Rail passengers suffer from playground politics

"If I can't be Kenny Dalglish then I'm taking my ball home."

I may have given away a bit too much about my age there.

Isn't it nice when you grow up and leave those silly playground politics behind? What's that line about putting away childish things?

Well, it seems not everybody does. In fact it seems childish things might actually play a part in big business - and impact on all our lives.

This week we discover that Network Rail has rejected a bid by Virgin Trains to bring a direct rail link in between Shrewsbury and London. You know, the thing that businesses in the county have been crying out for.

First, let's remind ourselves why we don't have a direct link.

We did have one. In the form of the form of Wrexham & Shropshire. To stretch the playground metaphor to breaking point, they were the weird new kid. They did things differently. They got no money from the Government (I've stopped the metaphor now) but the big train companies did. Like every weird new kid (started it again) it was bullied and soon disappeared.

After much farce, one of the popular kids - Virgin (the metaphor has stopped again!) - said it would run a direct link. And everything seemed hunky dory.

Then, just last week, Virgin issued a statement DEMANDING that Network Rail, which owns and operates the county's railways, made millions of pounds worth of "customer-focussed improvements" to "compensate customers for poor punctuality".

It said it was preparing "enforcement action" to bring about punctuality improvements, following "sustained poor performance by Network Rail".

And then, coincidently (!) Network Rail announces Virgin can't have its direct line to London.

"I'm taking my ball home."

That's not their actual statement. That said they had acknowledged that performance on the West Coast line was not good enough but adding more services would mean a "trade off with punctuality" with a "significant negative impact on performance for the thousands of other passenger and freight services that rely on this route every day".

So basically telling Virgin that if they want their current services to run on time, they can't have any more.

And who suffers from this apparent spat?

Yep, the customers that both sides claim to be trying to protect. Once again businesses and tourists are denied because men in grey suits can't get their act together.

The condemnation of the decision has been swift. But that is little comfort to passengers who are once again feeling the strain of the train.