Virgin Rail is a martyr to its rolling stock. Each time one of its trains causes commuter chaos, a spokesman for Virgin is on hand to blame the age and condition of the rolling stock it inherited from British Rail.

The company has a point. Years of under-investment in the rail network meant that Virgin took over a service in urgent need of an overhaul.

The same problem faced every company that bought a piece of Britain's railways, of course. And Virgin Rail must have known the state of the chattels it was buying.

But it is too much to expect even Richard Branson to produce a perfect service overnight.

Last spring he announced ambitious plans to spend £1 billion on high-speed tilting trains which would improve journey times from York to the Midlands, South-West and North-East over the next five years.

This commitment will have been welcomed by the thousands of people who rely on Virgin Rail services. However, such travellers know better than anyone that Virgin's problems are only partly caused by ageing trains. Managerial incompetence also plays its part.

Recent delays and cancellations can be blamed on human, rather than mechanical, failure. Furious passengers at York station were told earlier this week that a Virgin service from York to Plymouth was not running because a driver had gone off sick.

He was badly shaken after vandals threw a piece of concrete through the cab windscreen. But even given these unfortunate circumstances, it is ludicrous that the loss of one worker can cancel a train.

Virgin Rail clearly did not have any contingency plan to cope with the situation. That is doubly worrying at a time when so many people are off work with flu.

This comes only a day after we reported how a Virgin Rail train bound for Bristol was stranded in Staffordshire when it ran out of fuel.

The company said one of its engines had broken down, forcing the remaining unit to do all the work, burning twice as much fuel.

But this eventuality should have been foreseen and dealt with.

At the best of times, the journey from York to the West Country is a long one. Passengers undertaking this excursion by Virgin

Rail now have the added stress of wondering what time they might arrive, or if they will arrive at all.

Virgin Rail's management should stop blaming all their problems on poor rolling stock and examine their own record. Then travellers might notice an immediate improvement in reliability.

see NEWS 'Cancelled Virgin train angers family'

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