This is the age of the train? Don’t worry, this isn’t a call to arms for a certain Mr Saville to reappear but at this juncture in time we really must look to the future and embrace our rail network. After being left the legacy of a chaotic privatisation by the Tories, we are now finally starting to get the network back on track and push forward with much needed expansion plans.

Obviously with most fanfare we have the Crossrail project, finally approved in October 2007, with preparatory work already underway. The Thameslink Programme is also underway which will provide a much-needed shot in the arm for a key rail route. The extensions to the East London Line will provide London with an “orbital” railway avoiding the need to enter zone one. As well as this, passenger numbers have reached their highest level since 1946 when the network was far larger anyway. There has also been very encouraging numbers for the recently reopened lines in both Scotland and Wales, which should serve as encouragement for such schemes south of the border too.

Rail travel can also play a key role in tackling carbon emissions. Whatever the arguments in regards to long haul flights, our first main objective must be in ensuring we can eradicate the need to use domestic flights within the UK. We must therefore look at the impact of Eurostar and the significant drop in people flying from London to Paris/Brussels since it launched. With the West Coast main line now being able to deliver passengers from London to Manchester in just over two hours, that should certainly be one key route for which flying is no longer an option.

We need to embrace the plans for the new high-speed lines to be built across the country, therefore making rail the fast and viable alternative. Time is of the essence. We mustn’t allow the projects to become mired in delay, they must be up and operational as quickly as possible to further build the momentum we need to sustain for rail travel. The Tories seem to be recent converts to rail, having claimed to be the first to come up with the high speed plans at their conference last year despite the fact Network Rail announced preliminary plans for such a project during that summer. We mustn’t forget their rail legacy, namely a botched privatisation project and endless wrangling over the Channel Tunnel rail-link that resulted in Eurostar having to use our slow lines to reach the Tunnel for years. Not to mention mothballing Crossrail in the 1990s when plans were at such a stage that rolling stock mock-ups had been produced.

Perhaps lessons can also be learned from the operation of London Overground. Launched in November 2007, it saw Transport for London take control of a neglected railway route across North London. Since then, all stations have been staffed throughout their opening hours and all stations refurbished. While the route hasn’t been nationalised as such, this closer supervision of services is certainly a welcome change for commuters who had to endure a forgotten and decaying route under private operator Silverlink. Further work must also be done on the fares system to make rail the right option for the public. We can’t simply have it being affordable only if you book weeks in advance. The public want fares on the day and certainly aren’t sheep for wanting that, whatever the questionable train line advert would want us to believe.

We must back the rail network, for it can help us to continue to work on shifting the public from cars onto public transport that in turn will help us with our green ambitions. We can achieve this if we have the commitment and the vision. The rail network has been allowed to fall by the wayside before. We can’t allow that to happen again.