Railing On

It came as no surprise to me to read that conditions for passengers on Britain's rail network are set to get worse over the next few years. As somebody who spent the best part of a decade using trains for most journeys over 10 miles, it was a relief when I finally got my own car.

As a disclaimer, I'll say first of all that in the ideal world, using the train to head back to Cumbria would be a pleasant way to travel. However, it's often a thoroughly miserable experience for which you get charged a fair old whack. The last two trips, from Penrith to Manchester, were enough to put me off for the foreseeable future.

The first of those, back in March, saw me catch a train that was running from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Manc Airport. It had two carriages, both of which were rammed to put it mildly. Given the final destination, suitcases and bags were everywhere and people who had booked seats from Penrith didn't even try to fight their way across. I was one of the lucky ones - by the next stop, nobody else was allowed aboard.

Eventually, the conductor or whoever came over the PA to apologise. It seemed "for some reason we don't know", the train hadn't been given the right number of carriages at the depo. Humph. Arriving at Manchester Oxford Road very tired and very sore, what made this even worse was a month later, when making the same trip, the same thing happened and we were given pretty much the same excuse!

And that was that, barring a trip to Rochdale a few months ago. Sadly, I gather this is quickly becoming the norm for a lot of commuters and now the word is improvements won't be forthcoming despite ever-increasing fares without major support from the taxpayer. Obviously the system has gone to bollocks in an epic way and you have to wonder if there's a way to try and rectify the numerous mistakes privatisation has brought. Answers on a postcard...