[lokken]

I think there's massive differences across the railways. I mean where I live, Southern and South West Trains have become miles better and run to time, with shiny new trains and the like. There's no doubt that in the south at least the service is better. In contrast, central trains (when I was up in the midlands) are an absolute disgrace, with late, dirty, cramped trains. In fact they are being abolished pretty soon I believe.

Part of it however, is because the timetables have been fiddled with across the board, so train journeys can now officially take longer than they used to. The problem with breaking the railway up into franchises is that you get idiots bidding for tenders who just want to make money rather than provide a proper service and on top of that, the service is bound to be less integrated.

The fact is the railways in some areas now have a service to speak of. People want to use the railways again, and more trains isn't necessarily the answer - it's more capacity.