Publicly-owned rail may not get us back on right track

Nationalisation is often touted as a golden ticket to a better train service. Simon Calder is less optimistic it will work

- Simon Calder

“Britain’s railways are broken.” So says – or said – the transport secretary, Louise Haigh. Her social media assessment of the dire state of the rail industry, made six weeks ahead of the general election in July, remains true today. “Cancellations have soared to record levels, fares have risen almost twice as fast as wages, and taxpayers are paying through the teeth to prop up a failing system.” Ms Haigh spelled out what she intended to do about it: “Labour will deliver a publicly-owned railway that puts the passenger first.”

Rail nationalisation is an undoubted vote-winner. For anyone who can remember the 2019 election, it was one manifesto promise from Jeremy Corbyn that was popular with a majority of voters.

For all of us passengers who feel let down by the railways, bringing trains back under state control sounds tempting. Baroness Blake of Leeds, the Labour peer who is steering the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill through the House of Lords, says: “Public ownership will allow us to end the failed franchising system which has inflicted misery on passengers through delays, overcrowding, and poor service.”

“This bill will ensure that trains are run for the benefit of the British public, not for the profits of shareholders around the world.”