Why aren there enough trains for all passengers to travel comfortably ?
Decisions about how many trains are needed (and whereabouts in the country they are used) are heavily influenced, if not absolutely controlled, by central government who unfortunately failed to predict the dramatic growth in the number of people using the railways. The problem is affecting all parts of the country (you may have seen news reports of passenger strikes in the South West provoked by chronic under-supply of carriages), but the large cities in the North are recognised as being among the worst affected areas. The government has announced that an extra 1,100 carriages will become available over the next few years, with around 180 destined for Northern Rail, but a schedule for their delivery has not been published. In fact Northern is unlikely to receive any brand new trains for our area, but should inherit trains as they are released by other operators getting newly built ones. Northern Rail, in common with the other train operators, has surprisingly little control over this p
