So I spent today working from home. Around quarter past seven last night something - and nobody’s yet saying quite what - happened to the new bridge just outside Liverpool Street.

You know - the one that they were working on over the Easter break that they guaranteed would be completed on time, only for it to over-run so that I and countless other commuters spent a day working from home. It’s the one that replaced the bridge they took out over Christmas and the New Year. You know - the one where they planned ahead so they would get the job done on time and we’d all go back to work at the start of the year without a hitch. Only for it to over-run and for me and countless other commuters spend another day working from home.

Are you seeing a pattern here?

They got fined for that Christmas cock-up. £14m in total, making it a very expensive bridge indeed.

So anyway, last night something happened, which blocked the track and cut off Liverpool Street. The inevitable outcome was radio pronunciations not to travel on the trains unless absolutely necessary, although why they think anyone would ride a rush-hour train to London unless it was ‘absolutely necessary’ is beyond me.

It couldn’t have happened on a worse day in terms of PR, as it coincided with a story on Railway People about what is going to happen to that £14m fine, which most commuters would probably like to see ploughed back into the network so we can get a better service.

Rail chiefs have reacted with annoyance to the news that ORR’s £14m, imposed on Network Rail for the New Year’s over runs, will not be ploughed back into the railway industry. Instead the money will be remitted to the Treasury…

Michael Roberts, ATOC’s Chief Executive, described the decision as a missed opportunity. He said. ‘While the ORR has clearly considered this matter seriously, train operators and passengers will find their decision disappointing. It represents a missed opportunity to use the money to deliver some real additional improvements to passengers. Instead, we are left with a ‘money go round’ where money raised from the taxpayer to fund Network Rail is just being ploughed straight back to the Treasury.’

So Network Rail will be losing some of its subsidy, which will have to be made up somewhere - either through cost-cutting, which risks introducing more problems as corners are snipped, or by the costs being passed on to the train companies. And we know what will happen then, don’t we: ticket prices will rise.

So ultimately the fine for those delays will probably end up being paid for by the people who were delayed in the first place, the passengers. And they say they want to encourage less people to use their cars to get to work…?

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