BRITAIN'S railway network will be getting back to normal this morning after train companies rejected calls for at least a basic service on Boxing Day.

In stark contrast to the rest of Europe, this country was without a rail service for the holiday season, despite the surge in demand for train services over the past couple of years.

The decision to shut down the network was a slap in the face for thousands of loyal customers who needed to visit relatives and Government ministers who evangelise trains as a greener alternative to travelling by car.

The Association of Train Companies (ATOC) acknowledged greater demand for Christmas travel a year ago and promised to consider running some sort of service on Boxing Day.

Having looked at the figures the train operators concluded they did not add up. The projected demand was not enough to make a big, fat profit.

Rail use has grown by an unprecedented 42 per cent in the past decade. More people prefer to let a train take the strain than at any time since 1946, when the rail network was far larger. Many of Britain's most popular routes, including the East Coast Main Line, are operating at close to 100 per cent capacity But popularity is not enough. As a spokesman for ATOC so bluntly put it: "Train companies are not in the business of running services they know will lose money."

Nor, it seems, are the privately operated bus companies or airlines. So the UK's transport infrastructure came to a shuddering halt during the holiday season, leaving people with no alternative but to use the car.

But what of the 25 per cent of British households without access to a car?

If public transport is to become a genuine alternative to personal transportation it has to offer the same convenience - and that means being available all year round, not just when operators feel they can make the biggest profits.

For the moment there is little the Government can do but, in the long term, perhaps the Department for Transport should make running a basic Christmas service one of the conditions of future rail franchising agreements.