Train travails

IT is accepted that it will take time to overhaul Britain's railways. Indeed, Virgin has warned that passengers will have to experience short-term pain if the firm takes control of a re-privatised East Coast franchise because of the backlog of work that needs to be undertaken before travellers can enjoy quicker, and more frequent, services.

Such honesty is welcome. So, too, is the admission by Steve Butcher, Northern Rail's chief operating officer, that it is "unacceptable" that so many passengers have to tolerate overcrowded rush-hour services, and how even more people are likely to be left behind at stations unless new rolling stock is forthcoming. At least he recognises his company's shortcomings.

Yet this is not a new phenomenon. For two decades, Yorkshire commuters have been warning that services were at breaking point – predictions that have been largely ignored by a railway industry guilty of serial complacency.

It is, of course, convenient for Mr Butcher to blame the last Labour government for failing to deliver the 182 new carriages that Ministers promised for Northern. However, some wider perspective is required. This rolling stock was intended to cover the whole region. It would, therefore, have made a minimal difference on some peak-hour services.

In many respects, the problem stems from the vagaries of the rail franchise system that seems to discourage operators, like Northern, from investing in new trains in case they lose their contract at a later date. Thankfully, this mindset is changing with the coalition Government's longer franchises but, nevertheless, train operators need to be far more pragmatic if passengers are to be appeased.