HOW different it must have been back then. Rail commuters watching last night's new BBC1 costume drama will have groaned when a character in the Anthony Trollope adaptation said: "The great thing about the railways is that they are so reliable." And the title of the Victorian satire? The Way We Live Now.

Fast-forward to the year 2001 and the way we live now is in a state of terminal doubt and chaos on the railways. While the railways may still have been relatively new and exciting in Trollope's day, this vital form of transport now seems to be in a tired and troubled condition.

The latest piece of bad news emerging from the railways is that improvements worth billions of pounds for the ailing network could be put on hold for years because of the Government's decision to force Railtrack into administration.

This gloomy forecast comes from Steve Marshall, Railtrack's chief executive. In this region, vital improvements to the East Coast Main Line could be delayed for up to two years - adding to an already difficult situation.

GNER has recently revealed that it will not be able to run any new trains on the line until 2006 at the earliest. The York-based train operating company is hamstrung by the Government's indecision on awarding the 20-year franchise. Faced with a choice between GNER and Virgin, Transport Secretary Stephen Byers stumbled and announced that he was postponing the award of the franchise until 2005 - a piece of political fudge which made a bad situation even worse.

Now much-needed improvements to the East Coast Main Line could be held up while the Government decides exactly what form Railtrack's replacement will take. Without such upgrades to the line, GNER will not be able to operate faster and more modern trains.

All of which leaves the poor rail traveller filled with more gloom at the outlook of such uncertainty.

Such, indeed, is the way we live now.

Updated: 11:22 Monday, November 12, 2001