It cannot happen too soon to simplify travelling in this country.

Robin Evans, Poole

Simple. Enough is enough.

Nathan Day, Redhill

I don’t drive at the moment and cycle/use the trains but the astronomically high fares mean I’m considering getting a car, which I would hate to do

Damon Cocker, Norwich

I want to see one rail network for the whole of the UK.

Kevin Proctor, Erith

Bring back British Rail. Privatisation does not work.

Andrew Hall, Erith

It is high time we reclaimed the railways which should be a public service. Public money should never be paid to supplement private sector profits, as is being done now.

Guru Krishnamurthy, London

We need British Rail back. Why did Tony Blair and Gordon Brown never act?

Peter Gregson, Edinburgh

Why stop running East Coast when it returned more than £1billion a year to the government? The new company will only give £3 billion in 8 years.

Wilma Elton, Edinburgh

Railways are a national asset and work best in public ownership.

Simone Abram, Sheffield

Re-nationalise now.

Richard King, Bristol

Railways for the benefit of people and the country, not for private profit.

Chris Yong, St Albans

I still believe re-nationalisation of the UK’s Rail Network may be a potential key answer as far as I’m concerned.

William Chivers, Leeds

The rolling stock leasing companies swallow up a hundred thousand pounds a year for each and every train – that money goes straight down the drain.

Thomas John Wheeler, Dyfed

Transport is a public service but we don’t want a return to union waste. Private profit no.

John Gunner, St Albans

Public transport’s aim should be to mobilise the masses as cheaply as it can, offering them freedom and increasing the UK’s potential. Profit stands in the way of this.

Robert Prideaux

It wasn’t broke and now BR needs to be re-nationalised.

John Weeks, Rushden

Only the Tories could have done this, their revenge on the public knowing they’d lose the 1997 election so they got in quick with this. Typical Tories messing things up.

David Bosher, London

Everyone used to whinge about BR, but if only they had known how bad it would get after privatisation. We are subsidising it far more than when it was ours.

Reb Deacon, Gloucester

Privatisation has not shown itself to be good value for money and the different franchises don’t provide a ‘joined-up’ service.

Jason Clements, Harrogate

No to the privatisation of public profits. No to the subsidy of private companies. No to increased fares. No to inefficient private sector maintenance contracts.

Luke Heanue, London

It’s got to be a joke the overcrowding on London trains and the regular price rises above the rate of inflation. Yet shareholders get returns and bosses get bonuses.

Jackie Smith, London

Our trains seriously lag behind the nationalised systems of France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, all of whom also have much cheaper fares.

Thomas Barlow, Manchester

It makes no sense to fragment the railways. It’s been tried by John Major and the experiment failed miserably.

Robert Thomas, Northolt

A confusing plethora of train companies and fares which does little for the customer.

Meg Gain, Stratford-upon-Avon

A well-run public transport system is an essential part of a sustainable society. A properly-funded, publicly owned rail system a key element, less expensive than private.

David Ashton, Hitchin

Rail is a necessary public service and should belong to the public.

Kaotuka Raaman, Sidcup

It makes so much sense on every level.

Katherine Greenwell, Huddersfield

Get this cash cow for the rich and greedy back to the people who use it.

Paul Miller, Ilkeston

Return public transport to a service for the public not just a money-making exercise for a few.

Barry Gibson, Dundee

Time to stop pandering to the failed markets and letting foreign government-backed organisations buy our railway.

Raymond Howells, Dinnington