The country should have a proper public transport system.

Steve Ince, Pocklington

British is best.

Ann Barnes, York

British Railways was run more effectively than today’s Train Operating Companies.

Alistair Salmon, Medway

Bring it back to the people.

Benjamin Blake, Crawley

Expand our railways to where people need to go and not just where it is profitable. Get people off the roads and save the environment. Bring back and expand motor-rail too.

O J Donnelly, Aldershot

The service is so fragmented now, with everyone having their own little budget areas, that it’s no wonder that the investment in the railway itself is minimal.

Valerie Coote, Salisbury

This needs to be back in the public sector. Why should tax payers keep bailing out these companies and then pay through the nose to line their pockets?

Colin Rolfe, Chelmsford

They should never have been privatised. The government conspired to make them look unprofitable at the time and also at the time of Beeching.

Allan Jones, Elgin

£8 to go 5 stops. That’s £160 a month to get to work for an £800 a month job.

Sam Wynne, Poynton

Service not profit!

Adam Bloy, London

British Rail was far more cost-effective and fairer for commuters than the debacle of a system we have now.

Riz Husain, Harrow

All strategic industries must be in state ownership.

Sohail Zafar, London

Yes, bring it back.

Alasdair Lumsden, London

Prices are too high and conditions are poor, exploiting the day-to-day worker. They should be ashamed.

Bethan Harrison, London

I hate having to wait on a platform and let trains to my destination leave, as my ticket is not valid on that service.

Paul Pearson, Shrewsbury

Not-for-profit railway for the people of the United Kingdom would be value for money and not-for-profiteers employment security for rail workers – and would be cheaper.

Mark Denny, Wigan

British Rail should never have been privatised. It should be run as a public service for the people not private profit, as should the energy companies.

Sarah Mason, Sittingbourne

People before profit!

Richard Hanks, Sheffield

Southwest Trains are crooks.

Paul Sheppard, London

The privatisation of the UK’s rail network has not led to lower fares and better service. Rail companies put shareholders’ dividends before fare-paying customers. BBBR.

Paul Campbell, London

Can we have the power and water companies back as well please? They were privatised without our permission and are ripping us off also.

Michael Johnson, Guisborough

I know BR wasn’t perfect, but what organisation is? It had been starved of cash by successive governments. There’s more subsidy now but worse performance.

Steve Thorpe, Hastings

Britain deserves a top-class, publicly-owned railway like France.

Huw Spanner, Harrow

Severe lack of peak time trains (e.g. back/forth Brighton) and also lack of scheduling with local bus services, makes getting to work time-consuming, expensive and awful.

N Zaidi, Brighton

Fares are too big. Bring back British Rail.

Samuel Cook, Leeds

BR cost taxpayers about a third of what the privatised railway does now and was cheaper for passengers too. Nationalise franchises when they expire for greater efficiency.

David Sterratt, Edinburgh

It seems that over the years the whole country has been flogged off to private business, and look at the mess we are in. It’s time to put an end to this rip-off now.

Richard Campbell, Huntingdon

When the cost of tickets keeps going up so that the shareholders can have a pay-out each year, the services are getting no better. It is time it was run by one body.

Brian Armstrong, London

Trains are always late and stupidly expensive. This has to change.

William Carter, Wigton