Sticking to the fax Why Northern rail and Dolly hold on to their old machines

There's not much Dolly Parton and Northern rail bosses can claim to have in common. Frustrated commuters from Manchester to Middlesbrough might complain the train service barely works 9 to 5. What does unite the two is that neither can let go of the fax machine.

- Robert Booth

Banned in the NHS and dropped by the Premier League after one too many player transfers was thwarted by faulty transmissions, the fax machine was this week blamed for commuter misery by the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. With a face like thunder after half an hour hearing Northern's executives explain their service's dismal performance, he said: "I have heard that you're still using fax machines... Can that possibly be true?"

It was, admitted the bosses. A quarter of a century after email took hold and 40 years since fax became ubiquitous, rostering and train crew processing are still done by fax in 2024, they explained. Burnham could barely believe it. There was a time when faxes delivered grand news - Michael Jordan's 1995 return to the NBA ("I'm back," he faxed) or the save-the-date invitations for Prince William and Kate's 2011 wedding. But this was a cause for embarrassment. It was a sign of "disregard for the travelling public", Burnham said.

"It looks like the railway industry will get round to it when it gets round to it, when the faxes arrive," he said.

There are fax machines in the collections of the Science Museum in London and the Smithsonian in Washington but Northern Rail is not alone in keeping its use alive.