AFTER yesterday's worries about rail jobs in York, today we are back on the tracks - which is more than can be said about some of the trains.

The rail story of yesterday concerned fears that Railtrack jobs could be at risk if the company moves out of York. Today it is the running, or rather non-running, of the trains which is causing concern.

Arriva Trains Northern, which runs most of the regional trains in Yorkshire, was today expected to announce a new timetable. After months of cancelled trains, the company is drawing up a reduced timetable. Arriva blames a severe shortage of drivers for the crisis and says problems will continue until more drivers complete their training.

The problem is partly historical because Arriva took over from MTL which had itself cut the number of drivers to achieve franchise promises.

Arriva has not had enough drivers to deliver its timetable, leading to the rash of delays and cancellations that have been making life a misery for so many commuters.

Because replacement drivers have to undergo a year's training, this is a difficult situation to turn round.

What remains unclear is why both MTL and Arriva allowed a clearly-signposted problem to evolve into the present appalling situation.

It is true that services into Leeds have been badly affected by the necessary modernisation of the station, yet routes elsewhere, especially to Selby and Malton, have been stricken by cancellations thanks purely to this gloomy farce caused by a shortage of drivers.

Only days ago, the Rail Passengers' Council criticised train operators for "some of the worst performance on Britain's railways for decades".

Arriva seems likely to compound the situation by cancelling trains on routes with good road connections. So the train will become a bus. And that bus will be operated, we shouldn't wonder, by Arriva.

All of which hardly seems like a fitting way for a modern railway to be run in the 21st century.

Updated: 10:14 Wednesday, September 05, 2001