any rail passengers have, in recent years, had a difficult time. In London, for instance, travel during the Christmas holidays was turned into a nightmare by the extended closure of King’s Cross: the East Coast line ground to a halt, Finsbury Park station resembled a refugee camp and one poor passenger reportedly tried to climb out of a train window in desperation. Last week passengers at London Bridge faced being crushed due to the upgrading of the station. The scenes were extraordinary: stranded commuters jumped over and climbed under ticket barriers in a bid to escape the suffocating chaos.

It is entirely right that the Government is thinking hard about investment in the UK’s transport system. Ministers argue that the HS2 link between London and the North should be a major priority. This newspaper has long raised questions about its value for money and the impact upon the environment, though the Government insists that both are being carefully addressed.

But in the meantime it is no good ministers forgetting that for many passengers the most important thing is investment in the existing lines that they currently use. Those people facing delays or travelling on lines seasonally affected by bad weather, such as the Dawlish line in the south-west, are understandably keen to see something done about those services that are already groaning under enormous pressures. Commuters can certainly attest that many problems exist, and are tired of the discomfort and delays.

There is also the question of whether current works are being carried out as cheaply and quickly as possible. Andrew Gilligan writes for us about the problems facing the electrification of Brunel’s Great Western main line, raising the valid point about whether it will be completed on time. And, as is so often the case, there is the thorny matter of how it will affect the physical environment that the line passes through: residents in Bath are concerned about new masts and wires appearing on their listed viaducts. No one disputes the need for investment. The question is how much, where and how efficiently it can be done.