Whether it’s delays, overcrowding or fare rises, we all love to complain about the trains. Used to being the butt of complaints, the rail industry has always kept itself behind closed doors. Until now…

Britain has the oldest and one of the busiest railways in the world with 1.3bn journeys every year and rising. With unprecedented access to Network Rail, train companies including Virgin, East Coast, First Great Western and Northern, and the British Transport Police, this 6-part observational documentary series goes behind the scenes of one of Britain’s biggest institutions.

Filmed over a year and across the country, this candid series gets to know the track-workers, train guards and management who are battling to keep Britain moving – where anything from suicidal people or an unlucky pheasant, to faulty signalling, cable thieves, and mother nature can all bring the railway to a grinding halt. These are the people on the frontline who have the unenviable task of managing a congested, complex and often outdated system.

Told with humour, warmth and honesty, The Railway: Keeping Britain On Track reveals what’s really going on when we’re left fuming on the platform.