One travelling by rail was an unremarkable fact of life. More recently, getting anywhere by train has been little short of a miracle.

In the chaotic weeks following the Hatfield rail crash, trains have become big news and a hot political issue.

Last night Tony Blair appeared on ITV in Ask The Prime Minister, during which he was grilled by voters at Yorkshire TV's studio in Leeds.

Mr Blair admitted that rail travel in Britain had become an "absolute hell".

As luck would have it, Northern Spirit chose today to up its bid for the Transpennine franchise - picking a morning on which rail travel has yet again been disrupted, this time by severe overnight storms. Northern Spirit is offering a truly Inter-City service on board trains travelling at 100 miles per hour.

This is quite a promise at a time when trains seem more likely to be clanking along at ten miles per hour.

Northern Spirit's ambitious plans would strengthen rail links to Manchester Airport, which would be a welcome boost to travellers. And as we have said before, a rail service that draws drivers out of their cars is to be welcomed.

Sadly, that has been a difficult message to put across in recent months.

Yesterday, the transport minister, Lord Macdonald, faced a stiff inquisition from the influential Commons Transport Select Committee.

The committee concentrated its fire on track repairs, and in particular on the much-criticised policy of sub-contracting out all track maintenance work, which was described as "totally inadequate".

In a damning report, Lord Macdonald was quizzed on Railtrack's management of maintenance contractor Balfour Beatty on the East Coast main line.

To date, only Gerald Corbett, who resigned as Railtrack chief executive, has taken any responsibility for the chaos.

A bigger shake-up of the board at Railtrack is needed to ensure that a fresh new approach can be taken, so that rail travel can once again be efficient and reliable.