The latest news about rail services in this part of the world is not encouraging. Figures from the North Eastern England Rail Users Consultative Committee show a disappointing drop-off in performance in terms of punctuality and reliability by both Great North Eastern and Northern Spirit, particularly on short-haul journeys.

Admittedly the figures only run up to March 31 and as the companies rightly point out they are "nine months out of date". Both operators say they are doing better at present. That is good to hear. But unless that improvement has been remarkable, the service simply is not good enough.

There is increasing pressure on motorists to switch to public transport. Many have already bowed to that pressure. Demand for rail services, particularly, has increased.

But the industry cannot afford to take its customers' loyalty for granted. They have every right to expect trains which run on schedule and don't break down or grind to a halt because of leaves on the track or the "wrong sort of snow".

There will always be problems arising from time to time which are beyond the control of even the greatest endeavours of railway managements. But they should be rare exceptions, not built into the system as an anticipated percentage failure rate.

If progress is to continue to be made in the campaign to tempt commuters on to trains - and, moreover, keep them there - services need to be as near to 100 per cent punctual and reliable as is humanly possible. There is still a long way to go.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.