On hearing the news of two awful train crashes, one in northern India and one on Egypt, I was filled with a series of emotions; pity for the victims and their families, along with relief that Britain’s railways are amongst the safest in the world.

However we cannot afford to sit on our laurels; rail infrastructure does not fix itself and the government, or whoever takes over from it next May, must be willing to keep investing in rail infrastructure maintenance and also in the training of maintenance staff to ensure that we keep running at our current high standards.

There is a danger that jobs in rail safety, including rail maintenance jobs, and health and safety rail jobs, could be cut in the endless search for efficiencies.

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