Transport Secretary, we'll be watching to see if you can get the north's trains back on track - Laura Collins, YEP Editor

It’s a situation many of us who use the region’s rail networks will be all too familiar with.

Arriving at the railway station ready to head into Leeds for work to find your train has either been delayed or cancelled.

It becomes ingrained in the morning routine, in between eating breakfast and brushing your teeth, to check the live departure boards on your mobile phone first thing just to make sure you’re not going to be caught out in the daily game of train timetable roulette.

Do I need to leave the house 20 minutes earlier than usual just because my usual service has been cancelled?

There is the all too familiar rush to see who can squeeze onto the train without being stranded on the platform.

For those of us lucky enough to claim a spot – and paying for the privilege of being stood in someone’s armpit at the same time – there is the sight of disappointment on the faces of those at the next station as the train travels by with zero chance of being able to be shoe-horned into the crammed carriages.

And that doesn’t even include the look of puzzlement for those on the train as they look to battle their way off either!

But today marks a new start for commuters across Leeds and the north of England. For many, it will be the start of their Northern rail network journeys under public control following years of poor performance. The Government’s Operator of Last Resort took over from Arriva-owned Northern yesterday.Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims the aim of the change is to provide services that passengers can “truly rely on”. It comes after Northern received the lowest overall score of all train companies in the latest major survey by watchdog Transport Focus.

Among the plans from the Department for Transport will be a “priority focus for improvement” when it comes to tackling overcrowding.

It plans to extend platforms at 30 stations to accommodate longer trains, and is trialling new technology to identify crowding pinch points.

Many times this newspaper has lamented on its front pages about the poor state of the region’s rail network with a plea to government officials to listen to the woes of commuters.

Leeds is one of the busiest railways stations in the north of England with over 31 million passengers travelling through it in the space of the year.

Our city must not be held back any longer by its creaking transport network.

We will be quick to remind the Transport Secretary, who only visited Leeds recently after an open invitation from this newspaper, that we will be watching closely to see what happens.

While the trains still look exactly the same today, the coming weeks and months will be a real test to see whether this intervention finally gets our train services back on track once and for all.