Britain, I've tried so hard to love your trains – why do I keep getting punished for it?

Failing Grayling stood up in parliament and passed the buck, blaming the operators for cancellations and delays. At some point someone has to take responsibility

The disruption is constant and across the country (Getty)

I love trains – I must be a masochist. Unfortunately, Britain’s railways lurch from one disaster to the next and no one seems to take the blame. Today the boss of beleaguered Govia Thameslink dramatically resigned – small consolation to millions of angry customers who’ve spent hours waiting on platforms every day for weeks. The problems that beset the railways stem from a conspicuous lack of leadership, and if we were to appoint a minister for failure, Chris Grayling would be the perfect choice.

The other week, MPs attempted to force a vote of no confidence in our hapless and uncharismatic transport secretary – sadly, they were unsuccessful. Grayling’s ineptitude makes Jeremy Hunt’s achievements running the NHS look positively triumphant.

“Failing Grayling” will claim it’s not his fault that the new rail timetables still don’t work weeks after their introduction, that he didn’t make the controversial decision to give the boss of Network Rail a CBE, and that the troubles on the Virgin East Coast line (the operators have handed it back to the government) started before he took on his job.

Grayling would also say it’s not his fault that the number of passengers using the railways has fallen for the first time in eight years – 23 million fewer trips a year – representing a huge loss in income for operators already complaining they pay too much to the government for their franchises. The income from rail franchises will be £250m lower than forecast and the government will have to stump up £60m towards the deficit.

Running a railway seems to be about as attractive a business proposition as taking over a failing NHS trust, with the same levels of overcrowding, delays and cancellations, and lack of concern for the customer. Users (ie customers who help to fund both services) seem to be looked upon as irritants without whom both organisations would run so much better.

Who is to blame for the current mess if it’s not Chris Grayling? The new rail timetables were introduced on Govia Thameslink and Northern Trains on 20 May – but Network Rail only delivered the changes to the companies at the end of April (Thameslink) and to Northern in February. Operators warned the Department of Transport in early May that this was not enough notice for staff to be trained, but Failing Grayling stood up in parliament and passed the buck, blaming the operators for the ensuing cancellations and delays. Currently, Thameslink are cancelling 230 trains a day, and Northern 165.

As a result of the continuing disruption, over 70 councillors and business leaders from the North have written to the prime minister begging her to let them take over the transport for their region so they can achieve economic growth. Eighty-three MPs from the North have written to Chris Grayling calling for railways in their region to be returned to public ownership. Earlier this week, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) announced it was investigating how the Department of Transport “managed risks around major network change”; in other words, how the ministry does its job. Don’t expect any one person to be blamed, to lose their job or to lose their gold-plated pensions, Grayling included.

Passengers who have the misfortune to use South Western trains have suffered constant disruption for months. Waterloo station was closed for three weeks last August. No wonder passenger journeys in that region have fallen by 7.9 per cent. In April, Grayling ordered an independent review to look at the operator, stating its performance “was not good enough”. Words are cheap, but passengers want to get to work on time and South Western is facing more strike action in the coming months.

Travelling by rail is a hit-and-miss affair, and it’s not just down to new timetables. On Monday, I tried to catch a Greater Anglia train from Marks Tey in Essex to Liverpool Street. It was billed as “on time” right up to the moment of arrival – then it was “delayed”, then it was “cancelled”. I was told to get on another train on the opposite platform, but then had to decant back onto the platform as it was sent to rescue passengers from another train that had broken down nearby.

The day before, Network Rail had said that a piece of “bespoke track” outside Liverpool Street had cracked, closing two platforms but it would be fixed by Monday. Passengers were advised to go on Twitter to find out more – a waste of time. As of yesterday, the track was still not fixed, resulting in dozens of delays and cancellations. One man tweeted: “A major train line out of one of the wealthiest cities on the planet can’t run to full capacity for a week because of a ‘specialist part’ – you couldn’t make it up.”

To continue my own train woes, I tried to catch an Overground train from Whitechapel, but there were endless signal failures in the Islington area, which prevented me from getting anywhere at all. Later that evening, the District line had the usual cancellations.

On Wednesday (I must be a glutton for punishment) I caught a 2.30pm Virgin train from Kings Cross to Yorkshire. It was packed as a carriage had been removed and all the reservations were in chaos. Then a train broke down in front and we sat outside Peterborough for ages. I arrived 35 minutes late and passengers missed their connections.

It’s true that people are taking more long-distance journeys than ever, partly because of tourists and older people taking advantage of cheap deals. But for Britain’s workers (season ticket sales have fallen by 9.2 per cent for the second year running), Britain’s trains just add to the strain.