REDEVELOPMENT of Blackburn station is indeed a farce that sums up the plight of the whole railway network.

The announcement today of yet another month's delay (putting the project 14 months behind schedule) is almost not a surprise. It is merely one more ridiculous hold up in a sorry saga that was supposed to be a £6 million beacon project.

Yes, the station does now look nice and a suitable gateway for a town that is making enormous efforts to improve itself.

But after having to go through a large chunk of the winter with a completed waiting room locked we now have the nonsense of the new ticket office on the platform remaining closed because the Strategic Rail Authority have yet to inspect it and issued Railtrack with a "minor closure certificate."

In the meantime passengers have to continue dashing from platform to platform to catch trains because the TV style screens (which have been in operation at places like Preston for many years) cannot be switched on until the downstairs ticket office is closed.

If this shambles was a TV comedy series it would be a roaring success, except that some might think the script was too far fetched.

For anyone who travels by train on a regular basis the delays and annoyance of Blackburn railway station's redevelopment are only exceeded by the delays in the services themselves and the quality of the rolling stock that people have to use.

The lack of co-ordination between the various bodies involved in our railway system seems to be the major problem. It gives many people an excuse for inaction.

The Strategic Rail Authority and its Blackburn-born boss need to tackle the mess on a nationwide basis, urgently.