REMEMBER the days when British Rail boasted that it was the Age of the Train?

That was before the Government of the day decided to fragment the system and place responsibility for it into the hands of profit-motivated private companies.

The result is a chaotic disorganised mess and the public is right to lose confidence in it.

The debacle over Christmas timetables is an example of where the system has let customers down.

It is just two weeks to Christmas, yet even now some operators have not published detailed times so that passengers can book their journeys. Combine this with the disruption caused by engineering work in the aftermath of the Hatfield disaster and you can hardly blame people for choosing to drive instead.

First Great Western has attempted to maintain customer relations. Its publishing of the Christmas timetable comes with a message of sympathy and a promise from managing director Mike Carroll that better times are ahead.

Now he and his fellow executives at other train operators and Railtrack must ensure that proper investment and better organisation do indeed make this promise a reality.