It is a clear and impressive feat that from Leeds to Carlisle, Nottinghamshire, Maidstone and all manner of other places located around the country that steps are being taken to improve the conditions of railways. Whilst a number of these developments will undoubtedly prove to be disruptive for commuters for a largely short period of time (and mainly on weekends) it is clear that they will be beneficial in the long term for the future of transport and logistics in this country.  Indeed, there scarcely seems to  be a day that goes by when a Network Rail Upgrade Plan isn’t announced in some area of the country or other, but what this indicates more than anything else is the sheer amount of time that it has taken for responses to be made to the current state of the railway networks in this country.

With the amount of railway crossings being closed to their lack of safety, whilst some are being rebuilt to suit more sensible health and safety standards, the upgrade plans are a clear indication that privatized railway networks are incredibly ineffective and have been proven to be disruptive since their implementation. The sheer amount of activity taking place all over the country to improve the railway networks should therefore be viewed not as a testament to the resilience of Britain’s transport network systems, but rather to the failure to address and tackle issues of privatization that are proving to be more and more problematic to the country than ever before.

Indeed, one wonders how the dreams of a “Northern Powerhouse” can be realized if the logistics and transport networks simply cannot cope in their present state. The amount of disruptions that repair works are causing are indeed significant and despite the implementation of Delay Repay systems by transport networks, many of these take a ridiculously lengthy time to respond to complaints and queries. Something must be done to change this for the benefit of commuters from all over the far reaches of the land.