A modern, efficient and reasonably-priced rail service offers one of the best congestion-busting ways for people to go about their business.

Provided there are enough carriages, and services run when they are supposed to, it can be a great way to travel, avoiding the stresses and strains of being stuck in traffic jams, for example.

That, though, is not the experience of many Bradfordians who rely on their local network.

Cancelled or slow trains, overcrowded old carriages and not enough services are the most common complaints, although Bradford’s set-up of two stations and no through route can also cause frustration.

While this latter problem is unlikely to be addressed any time soon, there were grounds for optimism regarding the others after the district was included in plans for a major rail revamp in the North West which promised to slash journey times and introduce new services.

Our main disappointment when it was first revealed was that there were plans for better links between Bradford and Manchester Airport, but not between Bradford and its own airport.

But now we learn that new routes may have fewer trains on them and many of them may not be new, but second-hand, refurbished and more than 30 years old.

Chris Greaves, deputy chairman of West Yorkshire’s transport authority, Metro, said that was totally unacceptable in terms of both the quantity and quality of the stock, describing it as “yesterday’s technology”.

We echo those sentiments – this area should not have to put up with a second-class service.