JUMP on a train in the Far East and you will be transported in air-conditioned comfort at speeds close to 200mph. Do the same in France and the TGV flies along at 160mph, while Germans are aiming to hit 175mph by 2005.

Eurostar hurtles through France at 185mph, only to trundle through Kent at a much more pedestrian rate.

The railways may have been born in Britain and nurtured in the North-East, with the first-ever passenger rail service on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. But if the country had been a parent, it would have landed in court for neglect.

Governments have let a sound means of transport wither for the past 50 years - and it will be at least ten years before the service is anywhere near as good as Europe's. Fran Critchley, deputy secretary of the Rail Passengers Committee for North-East England, blames political indifference. "There were the Thatcher years and before that the Beeching era. If the railways are going to be commercially viable, we want to see continued public subsidy, even if the operators can't make a profit."

The Hatfield derailment in October cost four people their lives and the industry the public confidence it needs to survive. When the GNER highspeed express to Leeds came off the lines rounding a bend, it showed the frailty of the country's rail infrastructure.

Restricted timetables, reduced speeds and longer journey times followed, paralysing the country. Weary commuters went back to already choked roads; those who could afford it went by plane.

The result is that public confidence in the railways is so badly dented it may never recover, according to a report published yesterday, commissioned by Railtrack and based on a MORI poll.

Train operators and Railtrack believe the synopsis is too bleak but the biggest rail union, the RMT, describes the findings as "very grim stuff".

But, no matter what, the nation loves its trains.

Chester-le-Street commuter Barbara Vest, a representative manger for Yorkshire Electric with weekly meetings in London, has been flying to the capital since the rail crisis but the journey is costlier and inconvenient.

She says: "The train is better. I get loads of work done, and we can have a business meeting around a table. In the past six years I've hardly ever been delayed and next week will be giving the trains another go."