MANY Mail readers will know that we are still in the clutches of what is arguably the biggest public transport fiasco in living memory.

After more than two years of providing a rail “service” which has oscillated between patchy and risible, the Northern network has, over the past two weeks, plumbed new depths of ineptitude.

Each day brings more cancellations, sometimes accompanied with baffling and contradictory make-do-and-mend contingency arrangements that have left Furness line customers being shuttled around in buses and taxis like never before.

My Barrow office has been inundated with emails and calls for help from angry and woebegone commuters whose patience is almost at its final ebb.

Rail network bosses – and the government's Department of Transport which is headed by Chris Grayling MP – have wrung their hands and pointed to the ill-thought-out timetable changes that were introduced a week last Monday as the main reason for the latest dog's breakfast.

On May 27, after my inbox was rammed with a fresh batch of complaints from constituents and following yet another breast-thumping mea culpa from Northern in which they said they were “doing everything they could to minimise cancellations”, it was time to move up a gear.

Two days later I announced details of a special rail summit to be held in Westminster on June 27 with the aim of finding workable and tangible solutions to the crisis.

My announcement was swiftly followed by a letter from Mr Grayling to all MPs.

Contrite in tone, it included a solemn promise that he would meet MPs whose constituents were affected by the crisis.

On Monday of this week it emerged that Mr Grayling would that afternoon be making a statement in parliament.

During the exchanges in the Commons I reminded the transport secretary that, while the botched timetable changes had indeed made things worse, they were contributory factors to a situation that had already become intolerable, with 517 cancellations on the Furness line in the past year alone.

This drew gasps from MPs in the chamber, but in response Mr Grayling casually responded by saying that he and his department are taking the matter seriously and a new generation of trains were in the pipeline.

Later that evening I had a face-to-face meeting with Mr Grayling where the possibility of stripping Northern of the franchise was discussed.

But, after years of failure from Northern and indifference from the government, we won’t bank any promises until results are in action.

At least it was something to finally obtain recognition of the appalling deal that Furness rail passengers are facing on a daily basis.

On Friday I will be hosting a special meeting of the Cumbria Better Connected campaign in the Coronation Hall in Ulverston where the public can have their say about the latest chapter in this tale of woe.

It will take place in the upstairs supper room from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

Northern Rail managers, representatives from local councils, the business community and rail lobbying groups have also been invited to attend.

Among the topics for discussion will be the transport secretary’s pledge to consider taking the franchise off Northern in Cumbria unless conditions rapidly improve.

It is time this fiasco was ended.