Signalling problems are a signal of a much wider malaise for the region’s transport network - Ismail Mulla

We hopped onto the train from Dewsbury and although there were rail replacement buses for other routes, it was a comfortable enough experience on a rickety old Northern carriage.

It was a lovely day. Leeds was bustling but not overly crowded. The weather was pleasant, we did a spot of shopping and I pointed out some of my old haunts. All in all it was just a nice day out in the city.

However, it lured me into a false sense of security. As we prepared to head back home I fired up the rail app on my mobile phone and there was a sea of red ink staring back at me. Cancellations galore as a result of a signalling fault.

It would be forgivable if these sorts of disruptions weren’t so frequent and if there were meaningful alternatives to getting in and out of a place like Leeds.

But we’ve become so conditioned to appalling rail services that you just accept it.

We queued up for the rail replacement buses and there I got to hear about the woes that other passengers the length and breadth of the North were facing.

People from as far afield as Newcastle and Liverpool were dumped or stranded in Leeds. It put our predicament into context. It’s still not acceptable that the North is facing rail inertia so often.

As we waited in the queue it dawned on me that we wouldn’t be back home for the time we needed to return so I booked a taxi. A few minutes later I got a call from the taxi driver asking if we could walk somewhere else as he was too frightened to drive towards the station with various restrictions throttling traffic into the city centre.

Having walked to a pick-up point that the driver was comfortable pulling up to, the conversation in the cab turned to how inaccessible Leeds can be when the trains stop working. And how rail misery had made me grateful for home working.

I understand the desire to get people into offices but so much time and productivity is being eaten up by the Victorian transport network the North has been lumbered with. Public transport is too much of a lottery and an expensive one at that too. Rail fares will cost you an arm and a leg. The few remaining car parking spots will cost you a kidney.

It makes you think how places like the coffee shop that we visited are being deprived of daily footfall. Even those infrequent visitors will think twice before hopping on a train for a day out.

While promises of a mass transit network are undoubtedly appealing, it’s still jam that we’re waiting for tomorrow.

Last weekend’s experience was another reminder of why we need the improvements suggested by former home secretary Lord Blunkett’s plan.

The longer improvements are delayed, the more people will become alienated with public transport. And if they can’t get into our towns and cities, they will simply stay away.

I feel like a bit of a broken record but then again all rail passengers tend to. It’s not that we like to moan, it’s just that we have plenty of reasons for doing so.

I could write a whole book of excuses proffered by rail companies that would provide rich source material for a stand-up routine.

You only have to speak to people in towns like Slaithwaite that have been nearly completely cut off by poor public transport to understand just how bad our railways can be. If we’re adapting cities to be less welcoming for cars and more pedestrian friendly then rail travel has to become much better than it already is.

Rail connectivity isn’t just about getting people from one place to another. It’s about stimulating growth. The more mobile the population the easier it is for them to access opportunities. Improving public transport is the easiest way that the Government can boost social mobility.

Places like Bradford, which has one of the youngest populations in the country, deserve better. As do rural towns and villages, which have a unique charm of their own.

Would I still recommend a day out in Yorkshire? You bet. Given that a lot of hospitality and retail businesses are having such a hard time, it’s important to support them whenever people can.

And besides as a proud Yorkshireman, who works for Yorkshire’s national newspaper, I fell duty-bound to big up this great county of ours.