We were told that privatisation would bring consumer choice and price competition. It hasn’t. It’s more expensive and grossly inefficient. Only large corporations benefit.

Fiona Kearns, Wakefield

If the companies fail we have to bail them out anyway – what’s the point? No private critical infrastructure.

Matthew Hill

Public ownership is in the people’s best interest to have a system that everyone can depend on.

Joe Meredith, Risca

Merseyrail is a disgusting excuse for a rail network, run only for profit and it has impacted my life negatively. Something needs to be done about it.

Aaron Owens, Liverpool

They shouldn’t have been sold off in the first place.

Shea Hopper, Bournemouth

This is the only way to stop rail fare rises.

Graham Barnard, London

Let’s go back to British Rail and reclaim rail services for the British public now.

Lorna Cameron, Leeds

Get rid of Southern.

Ethan Storey, Chichester

I want an accountable minister in charge, not a chief executive seeking to maximise profit over service and passengers.

Kenny Pryde, Sutton

Stop this fragmented, disjointed shambles and have a railway run for passengers not shareholders.

Ian David, Bath

Bring it back now. If fares were cheaper more people would use it. It was built as one railway and should be one railway connection.

Julia Hudson, Dereham

The country which invented rail travel deserves the best national railway.

Nicholas Ward, Croydon

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

We taxpayers are paying more in subsidy to the private companies that run the railways now than we ever did when it was state-owned. Re-nationalise now.

Jerry Cooper, London

Everything is repeated several times over without any meaningful competition.

Martin Prior, Greenwich

They should never have been privatised in the first place. It’s a total disaster, subsidised by the taxpayer.

Harry Duffin, Brighton

Renationalising rail would be cheaper for the government and commuters… Bring back British Rail.

Joseph Fox, Exeter

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

Please bring back British Rail, as it is getting absolutely expensive now to go by train. The companies are putting the prices up and the railways are not up to scratch.

Stephen Clutterbuck, Upton-upon-Severn

Privatisation has been a very expensive mistake. These companies invest next to nothing and cream off great profits.

Denis Watterson, Otley

The only way to travel that makes sense. By the people for the people. The competition fallacy has derailed with the success of East Coast thus far.

Justin Grasty, York

British Rail, so misunderstood, so unloved. They killed you

Thom Balla

Wasted money on private franchises – not good value for the general public.

Sandra Hanna, Selby

We need a proper integrated rail system run for the benefit of passengers, not shareholders.

Jacqueline Wilson, Doncaster

The idea that a market exists on the rail network is a fraudulent one. The British public are being fleeced to make a few shareholders wealthy.

Rob Mullender, London

Very expensive.

Stephen Shaw, Lesmahagow

I wholeheartedly agree with your aims. Ex-British Rail employee, took voluntary redundancy in disgust after privatisation. RIP Bob Crow and John Green.

Stephen Williams, Ashford, Kent

Stop the wasteful fragmentation of our railways. Put the mega-profits back into the infrastructure to improve services.

Kevin Morrison, Blackpool

We need to maintain a core of public services which create a sense of shared ownership and shared benefit. Water, energy, health, education cannot be open to profiteers.

Sean Millwood, Stevenage

They should never have been sold off in the first place. It now costs more to travel by rail in the UK than it does to fly.

William White, Wendover