Transport Secretary Alistair Darling admitted the Strategic Rail Authority figures published on Monday were disappointing.

Plans to improve the operation and performance of the train network were also outlined by the SRA on Monday, including more details of "huge" investment in the upgrade of the key West Coast main line.

Mr Darling said inflation-busting increases in fares might be necessary to avoid increasing the burden on the taxpayer, but he said extra money would eventually yield progress.

Can the performance of the Railways be improved? Would you be prepared to pay more for better services?

The following comments reflect the balance of opinions we have received:

This debate is now closed. Read your comments below.

Your reaction:

Here we go again, nothing ever changes. Fair rises for train users to travel on a less reliable and less punctual service. I am on a working holiday in Australia and the journey in to Melbourne city from the suburbs every morning and the return journey at night are far better than the same trip into London each day. The cost is also far less, with a weekly pass to the city costing around AU$38 (approx 15 pounds). A ticket to London from my home town (about the same distance) would cost that for one day. I don't know what these other countries are doing, but surely we need to have a good look at it rather than just keep putting the fares up. The politicians don't want us to drive (and keep charging us more for the privilege) and the trains are very expensive. What are we expected to do, walk?
Edward Crow, UK

As a recent graduate I am already struggling to make ends meet financially. I've got a 'good' graduate job in London but i can't afford to move here so I spend 2 hours commuting each way every day. My monthly train ticket makes a huge dent in my pay packet and i would not be prepared to pay any more for the pleasure of standing up in a crowded, noisy carriage for over 2 hours a day. Young people like me are being priced out of the South East altogether. We leave univeristy in debt, graduate salaries are low, we can't afford to rent a house let alone buy one, and now they want to put train ticket prices up as well?
Becky, UK

The problems are systemic and cannot be cured whilst the current structure is in place Stuart, UK

Increasing the charges whilst delivering a poorer service is a scandal that would be impossible in any other industry. They cannot keep on expecting the passengers to pay more for problems that result out of their own errors. The problems are systemic and cannot be cured whilst the current structure is in place. Who's idea was it to create a private monopoly and separate the track from the train services - it is ridiculous.
Stuart, UK

I put up with six years of commuting into London and suffered the delays, inconvenience, and high fares of the other rail users, however this was only during peak times and outside of that, rail was on generally time, very reasonably priced, and I always got a seat. If you commute into the largest city during peak times, you can only blame yourself and the lifestyle you choose to live. Travel during off-peak times, buy a bicycle, catch the bus, walk, carpool, use Thames ferry services, get a job closer to home, work from home, move to a house closer to where you work, move away from London, become a train driver, anything, but stop trying to blame others for a situation you are creating yourself by being part of the problem. Do something positive about it.
Phil Hodgson, New Zealand

Alastair Darling makes the fatuous comment that fares have to rise to avoid 'burdening the taxpayer'. Why is it only in this country that subsidising trains in the public good - i.e. less congestion and pollution etc - is seen as a bad thing? As a train user I still pay a considerable tax burden to subsidise the government's desperate and doomed attempt to curry favour with motorists. It's about time that the government realised that the taxpayer must subsidise the rail network if we are ever to get a viable public transport alternative ministers claim to want. Of all this government's failures, transport is the most disappointing to ex-party members like myself.
David Mather, England

I'm getting a bit tired of people whining about our railway system, and equally fed up of people 'wondering' why things are so much better in Europe - they have bigger subsidies paid for by higher taxes! (They also have regional government, which may also be relevant) For years the great British public (what's great about us? I've no idea) has refused to vote for politicians who offer to raise taxes to pay for better public services. The Tories ruined the railway system - who elected them? Labour won't fix it because they are terrified of putting up income tax. You get what you pay for.
Chris, UK

Is there an easy cure to the problems on the railways in the UK? Simply put, no, there isn't. It will take time. The UK suffers from being the first. We built the first railways, chucked lines everywhere and now we have bottlenecks all over the network. Whilst somewhere like France has built purpose built lines for their express services. Everyone raves about French railways (SNCF) but if you go off the mainlines the service is appalling. Infrequent trains and very old rolling stock. Germany is the same. I've been on trains in Germany where there is a pan and a hole in the floor looking down onto the tracks. At least we can't see the ground in our toilets. People complain about the trains being dirty, but consider this. Who's making the mess? Not the staff so surely it must be us, the passenger. Rubbish doesn't appear out of nowhere
Andy, UK

I've learned not to pay attention to what this (or any) government says it will do, but to look at the end results. To me it is clear that they do not want people to leave their cars and use public transport. The car is a 'cash cow' for the government, from the duty and tax on fuel, vehicle tax, tax on car insurance, speeding fines and now congestion charges. Making public transport efficient, affordable and pleasant to use is counter productive. It would entice people out of their vehicles and reduce a lucrative source of income for the government. The sobering thought is that we have exactly the form of public transport that the government wants us to have.
Barry, England

We cannot keep falling back on using cars which pollute and kill thousands of people every year Adele, UK

Amid all the criticism, some of which is well-placed, may I mention one company which, though not perfect, has done something right? The Anglia Railways service from Lowestoft to Norwich used to be unbearably crowded early in morning, and instead of coming up with excuses the rail company put on an extra train every weekday. A small step, but it made my commute to Norwich much, much nicer. We've got to wake up to the reality that we cannot keep falling back on using cars which pollute and kill thousands of people every year. It's a crying shame that the government is more interested in giving the countryside a death by tarmac than making our rail services nationwide something to be proud of. But people should realise that by no means all train services are falling apart. Let's hear the positive once in a while.
Adele, UK

Anyone remember Thameslink 2000? It was a plan to radically improve the only cross-London network with much-needed extra services, new routes and more carriages on trains - in other words, exactly the kind of thing we need. And what did the Government do? They scrapped it. Brilliant. Yet another inspired move to get us out of our cars and onto public transport - or maybe not.
Craig B, Harpenden, England

For comparison Japan has top class rail system: trains are on time to such an extent that I set my watch by them, they are frequent and the whole network is supported by high levels of technology such as collision avoidance. For this level of service the Japanese passengers have to pay (E.g London to Bristol would be about �50 one way). The reason they are willing to pay is that there is no alternative, travelling by car is as expensive and often takes longer. In the UK the status quo is not sustainable, a different balance is required between the economics and convenience of different travel options, it is time the British public and its elected politicians came to term with this.
Dan, Japan

The British rail experience has provided valuable lessons for other countries in what to avoid when franchising rail services. At the end of the day, the only thing that will improve rail services is the contracts between the SRA and public transport operators mandating better services - and the operators being paid to deliver them. The structure of rail operations in the UK is essentially designed to avoid the public holding the government accountable for the management of the rail network.
Adrian, Australia

If you want to blame anyone for the entire mess of the railways blame. A. The Conservatives who made a bodge job of splitting the British Rail Network B. The current government for not dealing with the problems arisen by the multiple companies who now own and run the trains and Rail network operator communications. C. The SRA for their role in this mess. I remember the phrase "Let the train take the strain" well now it seems more like it's a strain to take the train. If this government got its act together, they may find that nationalisation may be the only way to stop the rot in our railways and I'm sure it will be to the electorate's benefit
Graham Henderson, UK

Subsidies are paid to the railways pretty much irrespective of performance. Distribute subsidies based on the number of complaints per thousand passenger journeys to give them a financial reason to provide a service.
Keith Walker, UK

Only 20% of trains late? I thought Connex's full name was DelayedConnex (as in "the train approaching platform 1 is the DelayedConnex service to...")
Ray, UK

I can go by car to London (from Bristol) for around 20 pounds of petrol, or take a coach for around 15 pounds - OR I can take a train, costing me 55 pounds at non-peak time, what would your choice be?
Tom, England

Any rail enthusiast will tell you just how many potential extra seats are wasting away in storage around the country. Privatisation introduced charging per vehicle - congestion charging on the rails. The cost to the operators of adding just one extra carriage to a service is insanely high. All the government/SRA needs to do is eliminate this charge. The operators would then have no excuse.
Steve, UK

Privatisation worked well initially James, UK

Privatisation worked well initially. The number of services increased dramatically, meaning that it was a cheap and fairly flexible means of transport. But now, with the government sticking its nose in once again things have just got worse. Direct trains from Oxford to Bristol? Apparently cancelled. The promised direct London-Reading-Newbury-Bristol service? Canned. Ticket prices. Skyrocketing. For those of us that can't drive the new policies are not exactly welcome.
James, UK

I live in the USA now, had lived in London for years. The absence of pretty much ANY public transport here makes the UK's train system look great. Facts are: It could be better, but it really could me much worse. Stop moaning.
Dermo, USA

Pathetic is the only way to describe the way that rail users, especially commuters, are treated. How on earth can we be expected to use neither rail nor road to get to our destinations? Adding insult to injury are the filthy slam door trains we are forced to endure. Have the government ever considered how much money they gain from taxing our City salaries, on top of the money we pay to travel in this country?
Mark, UK

'This has been a gross waste of public money' Sorry Alex, UK, I assume you are referring to the nationalised rail industry of yesteryear whose incompetent management and workforce created the shambles we have inherited today? Nationalising the rail network would be a gross waste of public money - as it was then.
Sean, UK

If the directors of all rail companies took the large bonuses & half of there annual salaries and put them back into the pot, I am sure that there would be a good size of money pot to invest in improving our networks.
Graeme, Scotland

The railway would have been much better left in the hands of government Tembo Peter, Zambia

Hope the inefficiencies of privatisation will continue being exposed. Obviously the railway would have been much better left in the hands of government. I compared the service levels in 2000 to previous years; the notable development is a down ward trend despite the solid capital investment already established. If the big countries are unable to contend the negatives of privatisation, where does it leave poor countries like ours? Privatisation is definitely a spoiler in any economic set up regardless of the economic system employed.
Tembo Peter, Zambia

I commute by rail into London only because the roads are so packed and there's nowhere to park. I never use rail when travelling for any other reason - it's too pricey and too unreliable. I now have the customer services desk on my mobile and regularly phone them from the platform to complain about lateness - it's the only way to get the point across!
Duncan, England

I travel regularly to major cities around Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. The UK is the only place where public transport is generally too unreliable, unpleasant and expensive to use. Everywhere else seems to make it work - I can only conclude after six years that this government completely lacks any interest in improving the situation.
Nick, UK

It is not higher fares that are needed, but lower fares and better service(s) that will get people back on the railways. All that privatisation has achieved are more fat-cat rail bosses lining their pockets, rather than investing the money back into services. Is it a coincidence that we have the only non-state or semi-state railway system in Europe, but we have the worst? Public ownership, transparent fare structures, cheaper prices, and faster, better trains is not a lot to ask in my book.
Martin, Scotland

Has Martin from Scotland any idea of how much money it will take to sort out our railway system? It will take tens of billions of pounds! A few million quid a year spent on directors bonuses is a drop in the ocean compared to the sums we are talking about.
Peter, UK

Too often trains are delayed because the driver or crew are late. I think train companies are to blame. Where are the new trains we were promised? And how about recruiting more train drivers and train crews? Also, I don't think people would moan about the price if the trains were clean, spacious and air-conditioned.
Mark, UK

It's the infrastructure and it's owner - Network Rail - that are to blame. Lee, UK

Why do the SRA bother publishing statistics when they do not publish the background information to make them relevant? As a railway engineer I see all to clearly, on a daily basis the causes of delay and cancellation - the train operators efficieny rarely come into the equation!! It's the infrastructure and it's owner - Network Rail - that are to blame. I suggest you re-issue the figures and give the public a better understanding of the background i.e. what condition are the trains, signalling and other infrastructure in? The figures become slightly more revealing as to the train operators true performance!! Perhaps more investment signalling, track and operating infrastructure by NR and less in painting stations and their own offices would speed the railway up? At least you'd have less time sitting around at stations to actually care what they looked like!!
Lee, UK

Every year we are informed of the "Slight Increase" in rail fares, to improve the system. And every year complaints have increased. Congestion charges were introduced hoping to cut down the traffic across Central London, why on earth would anyone want to stop driving into work when the rail network is an absolute shambles?
Eric, UK

The whole transport infrastructure, not just the railways, is a shambles and former aims at a fully integrated system seem to have gone out of the window. As someone who uses London trains daily it never ceases to amaze and annoy me that on the weekends when all trains are diverted into Cannon Street train station, no-one from the rail company has the common sense to arrange with London Underground that they open Cannon Street tube station as well, leaving Londoners confused and tourists presumably glad that they don't have to deal with this kind of inefficiency back home.
Clifton Wilkinson, UK

The rail network would improve in leaps and bounds if only the people who are responsible for running it had to use it. I would make it a legal requirement for all board-level directors of rail companies (including Network Rail and their subcontractors) to do the majority of their personal commuting by train. Not only would this improve punctuality almost instantly, it would also concentrate minds wonderfully where safety is concerned.
David Hazel, UK

The main target of the railway companies is not quality of service but the profit. Max Greco, UK

Since the railway system has been privatised the main target of the railway companies is not quality of service but the profit. Quality of service is delivered only as a necessary evil required to survive to competitors. As competitors are not existent it is simply not delivered. This should not be a surprise. There is only one way to have a good railway service: pay for it. The fact that railways are owned by private companies adds only one extra payment to the price of the ticket: the one to the shareholders. Welcome to the real world!
Max Greco, UK

This weekend I used Virgin Trains for the first time in a year, and was pleasantly surprised. The new trains were clean and comfortable; our seats actually were reserved for once; the train left on time and arrived early; and even the customer service seemed to have improved. After many nightmare Virgin experiences in the past, it was quite a relief that the biggest worry was the in-train entertainment system not working.
Graham Soult, UK

I travel on South West Trains and have not been on a train in 5 years that hasn't been dirty, over-priced and/or delayed. To give an idea into the scale of the problem, I distinctly remember a conversation with an understanding conductor telling me the train carriages were made in the 60s and his ticket machine was originally supplied in 1980!
Alex, UK

Customer Service doesn't seem to mean anything at all Jim, UK

Rail transport in the UK is the most expensive in Europe and also the worst that I have had the misfortune to experience. Privatisation has proven to be an expensive white elephant. In the last 3 years I have been forced to use rail transport on a weekly basis and I have observed that there is absolutely no desire on the part of the personnel working for the train companies to give their customers a pleasant, comfortable or efficient service. Train booking is a nightmare of complexity, especially if a journey uses more than one supplier - rail cards are rarely useable across networks, for instance. "Customer Service" doesn't seem to mean anything at all - innumerable rail workers seem to amble about train stations aimlessly doing nothing while huge queues develop due to the lack of operational ticketing machines or open ticket stations. The service itself is diabolical - I have yet to encounter a train which is on time. Much of the rolling stock is older than I am and disgustingly dirty. How the train companies can pocket huge sums of taxpayers' money in "profits" whilst the whole system deteriorates and service becomes increasingly poor is beyond me..
Jim, UK

South West Trains seem to have the right idea about improving the service. Not only have the fares increased, for all peak hour travel bicycles have been banned - however the bicycle holding carriage remains so we can enjoy luxury travel in a cage!! Similary, good old SWT continue to cater for the one person that smokes by continuing smoking carriages in services in and out of Waterloo. But we must be thankful that whilst the trains continue to be over-crowded, expensive and late - at least Waterloo station has a new roof - what good use of funds to improve services!
Amanda, Surrey, UK

It must be very difficult running a great train network but look at Japan. It has more people, more trains, more train stations, rain, snow, autumnal-leaves and whatever else but its entire population knows that 99.9% of trains run on schedule - from bullet ones to local ones, train delays and cancellations are unheard of there. The trains are all kept to an absolutely impeccable standard & the service is better than some Michelin starred restaurants. The train fares in Japan are also very reasonable. The UK train companies must know this but their main objective is to make money and without any real/direct competition they will never improve under their own "steam"!
Sai, London UK

I don't think they really care what their customers think Melissa, UK

I think it would be very unfair to raise fares yet again simply because the management can't seem to get it right as far as our railways are concerned. I know I'm not alone in wondering why I should pay so much for so little. I complained about the service to South Central when I renewed my annual season ticket and got back a very patronising response trying to justify the poor service and rolling stock. I don't think they really care what their customers think - they have us over a barrel as they know the majority of commuters have no alternative other than to travel to work every day by train!
Melissa, UK

Our railways are grossly expensive, inefficient and uncomfortable. It is a disgrace that a public company should be given taxpayers money, the public who bought shares are paying twice over! What an incredible con. The railways might as well be re-nationlised and have done with it, it seems the only reasonable way to go before management bleed it any dryer.
Philip, UK

Mr Darling says "...inflation-busting increases in fares might be necessary...", to improve services, but this excuse was being used when I first started commuting in 1971 and I'm still waiting to see these improvements. Perhaps he should have added "improve services for your grandchildren" !!
Brent , UK

I'm not happy to pay above inflation increases for my season ticket. There's been no improvement to my journey time or punctuality so I fail to see what the money is required for. In addition, SW trains are actively seeking to make it impossible to take my bike with me by introducing inappropriate rolling stock. Why would I want to pay for more limited travel opportunities?
Angus Barber, UK

If a trip for one person is still cheaper by car, just where are the incentive to use the railways? name here

I recently investigated the return fare for a trip between South West Wales and Durham (about three months ahead of when I need the ticket). The cost of the return ticket was approximately �6 more than the same cost to do the trip by car (using the AA travel cost guide) and the time the trip would take was around the same time. If a trip for one person is still cheaper by car and the rail trip is no quicker than by car, just where are the incentive to use the railways? Incidentally, a standard same-day return from over here to London in peak is over �125!!
Suzi, Wales

I am a yearly pass holder in London. Recently the train I regularly get every morning has been changed from a modern, electronis door train to an old fashioned manual "slam-door" train. This has reseulted in the train being between 5-20 mins later every day. When I then contacted the train operator (South West Trains) about a refund on my yearly ticket I was told that they only distribute refunds when I renew my pass and it would be likely that if the trains are running on time by then I would be entitled to nothing. I'm sick of paying over the odds for a shoddy and awful service.
Dom, UK

I visited the UK in August 2000 and thought it would be fun, remembering taking rail in 1984 and 1986, to take my wife and new baby on a train tour. We started in Bath and aimed to end up in Marlowe, by way of the Cotswalds. It turned out to be a grueling, expensive day of dirty trains, long waits on the platform and frequent line changes. I think we paid something like $25US per person to go from Gloucester to Oxford! The only thing I knew that had happened between 1986 and 2000 was privatization. I liked it a lot better when it was British Rail.
Dave F, US