From my perspective as a passenger, trains constantly being delayed or cancelled due to problems with the track suggests the track is not being adequately maint

From my perspective as a passenger, trains constantly being delayed or cancelled due to problems with the track suggests the track is not being adequately maintained. It could be the case that there is sufficient money available and it is being poorly spent. I am not inclined to think this because there is a general trend of chronically underfunding public services, but I don't have specific knowledge about national rail. Incidentally, I don't think NR is free to set its own pay scales, so it may well be the case that the money wastage you describe is mandated by the same government that funds it.