By Rosalind Gibb

Last updated 11:35, Thursday, 17 April 2008

Imagine there were days the News & Star didn’t make it on to the streets, or if it did it was two hours later than people were expecting.

It wouldn’t be much of a business would it?

Yet this is the below-standard service passengers frequently experience with rail companies.

I have lost count of the number of times my train has been either late or cancelled over the years, whether commuting or going on holiday.

Last month I spent a relaxing weekend in Ambleside. The day before we were due to return, a freight train had lost its load somewhere north of Oxenholme (I did wonder why it had been allowed to travel on one of the stormiest nights of the year) and the line was closed.

After three long, hot, bus journeys via Glasgow we finally got home to Edinburgh, four hours later than planned, feeling frustrated and tired rather than refreshed and ready for the week ahead.

Last Friday evening the train from Carlisle to Edinburgh was late, not just by a few minutes but over an hour. The announcer sounded as though he couldn’t care less and passengers were left to sit around in the cold station, knowing they were missing the start of the weekend.

There are all sorts of reasons offered, of course: vandalism, signal failures, poor weather, engineering works.

But how come these problems only seem to affect trains in Britain? Travelling in mainland Europe is so straightforward in comparison. Even when I used some 20 trains on a six-week inter-railing trip through central and eastern Europe, all of the trains left and arrived on time. Why is this so impossible here?

Even more frustrating, train operators are rarely found accountable for poor service, and we can’t take our custom elsewhere because usually only one rail company runs trains on each route.

And when we are kept waiting, it seems that we’re just meant to accept it as part of life.