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What a start to the week for Oxford rail commuters.

Over-running engineering work brought chaos at Oxford station for much of yesterday.

Although trains started running at 8am, the knock-on effects were still being felt at lunchtime as services struggled to get back to normal.

With high fares, poor punctuality and now non-running of trains, passengers in our county are getting a poor deal.

If it is not train company First Great Western messing things up, you can rely on Network Rail, with its work on the track and signalling, to do so.

First Great Western has already been warned that it could lose its franchise for services in the Thames Valley unless it improves its performance.

Perhaps a similar message should be given to Network Rail.

One question is why wholesale closure of the rail network is necessary when repair is carried out.

In the days of British Railways, services continued while work progressed.

Health and safety is of paramount importance, of course.

But with modern communications, surely services, in many cases, could be run and repairs done in tandem?

4:59pm Monday 28th April 2008

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