Rail delays in North show a dereliction of duty - The Yorkshire Post says

Four years have passed, with as many holders of that office - Mrs May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak - each failing to achieve any progress.

Such disinterest is what leads to unsurprising reports that three train operators serving northern England are getting fewer than half of their services to arrive on time.

Just 45.8 per cent of stops at stations by TransPennine Express trains were within a minute of the schedule between October 16 and November 12, analysis of Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data by the PA news agency found. At 48 per cent, Northern’s punctuality was only slightly better. Avanti West Coast, which serves north-west England as part of its long-distance routes on the West Coast Main Line, recorded an on-time figure of 33.3 per cent.

Staffing problems have affected them, with many drivers understandably refusing to volunteer to work on rest days - but this is a deeper issue.

Weeks before then Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, announced in January 2020 that the Northern franchise would be removed from the private sector operator, Arriva Rail North (owned by Deutsche Bahn), and brought under Government control, he and former Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry visited The Yorkshire Post offices.

Mr Shapps described it as a “‘light at the end of tunnel’ moment”.

So why are Yorkshire commuters still turning up to their platforms with that all-to-predictable sense of dread? Since 2018, we have only gone backwards on this interminable rail issue - and those with the power to change it have shown a disgraceful dereliction of duty.