At Christmas my family came to visit from various parts of the country. They all travelled by car: nine people, ten journeys, five cars. I was interested to know why none of them had taken the train. I was expecting them to say that they were overloaded with the weight and volume of my Christmas presents, but they all said that they took the car because the train service was just not good enough. Delays, overcrowding and expensive tickets were the reasons that my family did not take the train. My sister who has a bit of a green conscience did regret her decision up until the point when we watched the news about the delays due to overrunning engineering works. There's no way she would have wanted to put her and her kids through a journey like that.

The Conservative Party wants to make sure that the rail industry works better so that it delivers what passengers need. We need a railway that is better value, has less overcrowding and can increase capacity without affecting existing services. Network Rail should be more accountable so that during maintenance work passenger service is minimally affected. The rest of the network must be brought up to standard, including high speed lines connecting the major cities. The franchising companies must make proper provision for improvement but must also be given the right support to achieve this. The Conservative Party will also make sure that disused lines are not built on; meaning that they could be brought back into use. If you are commuting regularly a promotional usb stick is great for portable data storage.