Train operators believe Network Rail bit off more than it could chew by scheduling so many large engineering works over Christmas and the new year holiday.

And, to put it mildly, they are fuming at Network Rail’s hamfisted handling of news of the delays. One Railway, which operates from Liverpool Street, says it was told at 1am yesterday that the station could not reopen, only five hours before services were due to resume.

In addition to Liverpool Street being closed for ten days, the East Coast Main Line was closed because of work at Stevenage and the line from Paddington to Swindon was shut from December 27 until New Year’s Day.

Altogether Network Rail said it completed 33 out of 35 engineering projects over the holiday period on time. But David Franks, chief executive of National Express’s trains business, said: “While Network Rail appears to have planned engineering work on a route-by-route basis over the holiday period, it has failed to look at the national picture, particularly the resourcing required, and, as a result, we have large sections of the railway that customers are unable to access.”

National Express is having urgent meetings with Network Rail over the closures and it has also asked the Office of the Rail Regulator to carry out an investigation. It fears that engineers were pulled off the Liverpool Street project to patch up the Rugby job, which was clearly running out of control early on when Network Rail demanded, and got, more time to close the line.

Network Rail has blamed the delays at Rugby on a lack of “specialist engineering resource” – an astonishing admission for a project planned at least 18 months to three years in advance. It has brought in manpower from around the country to get the signalling project completed, but its reputation as a competent project manager may be difficult to recover.

Virgin Trains is also demanding action: “Network Rail has held up its hands, but we want to make sure this never happens again,” a spokesman said. Both sides agree that fines on Network Rail are not an appropriate punishment when the reputation of the whole railway is at stake.

The uncomfortable truth is that it is extremely difficult for any monopoly industry, such as Network Rail, to run efficiently. Train operating companies cannot take their custom elsewhere and that situation is only going to get worse in the next few years as billions of pounds in more investment are pumped into the railway. Meanwhile, the poor passenger, who has had an average fare rise of 4.8 per cent on top of the delays, is caught in the middle.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive