It was better when British Railways ran the system. The liveries and prices were great. The government should listen to the people and not the franchisees.

Laken Walker, Hereford

I’ve just had the worst train journey ever travelling from Birmingham to Wakefield. It took just under 3 hours, making an average speed of 34 mph.

Lynda Pickersgill, Barnsley

Keep up the good work. I’m sorry I cannot help out with money, being a pensioner.

Keith Smith, Huddersfield

I always said that privatising rail was a really bad idea.

Peter Slegg

It should be a public service not a profit-making organisation.

Tate Matthews, Chertsey

Keep staff at small stations. Ticket machines aren’t enough.

Helen Scott, Downham Market

There are some services and utilities that are too important to be in private hands, energy, health, education amongst them.

Roger Payne, Harpenden

It’s horrible to be sat on a 142.

Reece Watren, Sheffield

Take rail transport out of the hands of profiteers and banks.

Martin Griffiths, Fraserburgh

How can our fares be so expensive in comparison with other countries? I’ve had to cancel a day trip because the fare was simply too much – there are no winners here.

Simon Kelleher, London

Privatising the rail network has left the UK in the doldrums. The nationalised networks across Europe and elsewhere have nearly doubled intercity speeds.

Richard Hillier, London

This always was the most stupid of the privatisations and if Christian Wolmar thinks it ought to be re-unified, that’s good enough for me.

John Longstaff, Knaresborough

The kind of people who complain about the bureaucracy of the EU are the same kind of people who designed the Byzantine complexity of Britain’s privatised railway.

Terry Grimley, Birmingham

All UK railways should be publicly owned instead of giving companies (many of which of foreign) our money.

Oliver Bull

Privatisation of publicly-run companies has never worked and will never work.

David Younger, Chester-le-Street

Bring this vital service back under our control and learn from the East Coast main line.

Sarah Snell, Walsall

Southern Rail are genuinely a disgrace to the British rail industry. They can’t be allowed to hold commuters to ransom with constant industrial action.

Alexander Kounoupias, Tadworth

I remember old Beeching, the beginning of the demise of the British Rail network, and it’s even worse now.

Malcolm Halliday, Exeter

Bringing back British Rail is a wise policy which is essential for our economic and social recovery and future shared prosperity.

Paul Bright

Greedy, inefficient and monopolistic. That’s the reality of UK rail companies. Enough is enough. We want regulation and a state investment in our transport.

Amy Smith, Dartford

British Rail days were far better.

Frank Nicholas Adam

The present system is costing the taxpayer more than British Rail did.

David Hunt, Nottingham

We need a good reliable, reasonable travel network to support and reduce the amount of traffic on our congested road network.

Linda Walker, Birmingham

Do not wait for the franchises to run their course. Take them back into public ownership now.

Michael Lee, Worksop

Totally useless.

Sharon Reid, North Berwick

Commuters are not there to be exploited for vast profits.

Joy Partridge, Chesterfield

Bringing British Rail back into the public domain is a no brainer. A state owned system would cost less and profits would go to the nation.

David Bacon, Sheffield

Probably split up into competing lines – West Coast, East Coast etc.

Malcolm Padmore, Chester

The time has come to tell the Government that we’ve had enough of all this privatisation that doesn’t work for anyone except the fat cats.

Maureen Raud, Teignmouth

We need a rail network that serves the people and isn’t there for private profit.

David Scott, East Linton