ONE catchphrase regularly trotted out by New Labour and their slavish advisors is "integrated transport policy".

It makes transport ministers appear extremely knowledgeable while leaving most people furiously scratching their heads because, well, it makes little sense but... but... it sounds important.

Ask Government officials and they tell you, not a little patronisingly, that it obviously involves making sure trains, trams, taxis and buses run smoothly, on time and go the extra mile (literally, not geographically) for passengers.

Which makes you wonder, when studying the ongoing battle for the right to run trains on the East Coast Main Line, why ministers don't seem to have the equivalent of an "integrated transport policy" linking their eyes, ears and brains.

Instead, they appear to have a kind of 26-mile traffic jam or, say, leaves on the line between their ears.

GNER, the firm now operating high-speed trains on the 400-mile line connecting London, York and Edinburgh, was this week hailed in Parliament as the "jewel in the crown of Britain's railways".

During a debate in Westminster Hall, City of York MP Hugh Bayley described GNER's present performance as "without doubt the best... in the country."

GNER had run East Coast Main Line services so successfully it would "send entirely the wrong message" if it lost the franchise, due to expire on May 1, said Mr Bayley.

"It would say that quality and reliability are not valued and

rewarded. It would be quite perverse if the train operating company that by common consent has performed the best since privatisation were to lose its franchise," he said.

Mark Lazarowicz, a Scottish MP, waded in to fight Mr Bayley's corner, insisting it would be "a seriously retrograde step" to replace GNER. To the man on the street, the evidence in favour of GNER beating off competition from FirstGroup, Danish Railways and multi-millionaire Sir Richard Branson's Virgin/Stagecoach consortium is overwhelming.

Since GNER took over the franchise in 1996, passenger numbers have soared 32 per cent -taking traffic off the roads -while the number of services thundering up and down the line has increased 22 per cent.

Surprisingly, some fares are cheaper than during the days of British Rail. And hundreds of business travellers have been attracted by the "wonderful" restaurant car, which allows them to relax or carrying on working while commuting to and from meetings.

The firm has made a £100 million investment in rebuilding trains, improving car parks, modernising stations and improving information for passengers - not just lining shareholders' pockets.

GNER's East Coast Main Line - an "artery pumping the lifeblood of

prosperity" into Yorkshire, says Mr Bayley - has contributed some £100 million to the region's economy, through business and tourism.

Even brooding Chancellor Gordon Brown must have a smile on his face. GNER has not only paid back the Government's initial £62 million subsidy, but in the last three years placed £78 million into the Treasury's coffers.

This is despite severe disruptions caused when GNER expresses were involved in two fatal rail accidents at Hatfield and Great Heck, near Selby. Neither was the train operator's fault.

Perhaps the most significant indicator of GNER's popularity is the

passengers themselves. About 85 per cent are happy with services and 20,000 declarations of support have been sent to the Government.

Yet GNER is not a certainty to clinch the new seven-year contract: as with most things involving the Government, it is not that simple.

Hapless Railways Minister Charlotte Atkins insisted competition would not threaten standards. "On the contrary," she said, "by its nature it should spur improvements." But there is an unpleasant feeling gnawing away that the Government, despite perpetually claiming it listens to voters, will plump for the cheapest option.

For anyone who has spent four hours drumming their fingers on a

broken-down Virgin Train in the wilderness near Tamworth, or waited on a freezing cold platform near Warrington for the arrival of a delayed First North Western service, this is a worrying thought.

Worrying enough to have you reaching for the car keys.

Updated: 11:25 Friday, February 11, 2005