Both the trains and the rail system should be under one management and it is too big for one company to control.

Ron Greenham, Luton

Outrageous to have privatised. The rail needed strong reform but not this.

Penny Jones, London

Today the Tories are at it again, this time with the Post Office. The Labour Party needs to state that it will re-nationalise the railways and the Post Office.

Stewart Legg, Portsmouth

Bring it back into public ownership before we are ripped off again with the sale of the East Coast Line.

Richard Lockwood, Heckmondwike

we need consistent investment not rely on run down stock.uk railways are a joke compared with Europeans.

Cathy Scoffield, Barnstaple

The best rail service at the moment is East Coast. Cheerful, efficient service, usually on time, makes a healthy profit. De-privatise the rest but keep the efficiencies.

Lynn Dorling, Edingley, Newark

What exactly does this country own? Answers on a postage stamp please, if you can afford one.

Irene Jones, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

If only British Rail had got the subsidies all these private railway companies receive, what a network we could have had.

William Paddock, Edinburgh

Other countries that have very successful and well-run railways are state-owned, so privatisation has not delivered efficiency, good value or good service.

Eileen Quilter Williams, Kettering

Nationalise them. Get rid of the robber barons and get back to fair fares and decent rolling stock.

Martin Maguire, Swinton

We do want our railways back in public ownership.

Margaret Reynolds, Durham

It’s time to put people before profit. I have bought so many tickets then stood in the doorway of the carriage for the length of journey.

Anita Hambly, Corby

How is my station in Zone 4 while the one about half a mile from it – faster into London – is in Zone 6?

John Gilbert, Bromley

BR was working well when it was butchered. Now we pay more in subsidy than ever; the wrong way to do things. Rail infrastructure is a national asset and services a social need.

Stefan Antoniuk, Callington

Bring back British Rail.

Richard Cooper, Glasgow

Why pay dividends to shareholders when the money would be better spent on renewing the rails and trains?

Ian Sadler, Leeds

Hull’s train links are awful and overpriced.

Lloyd Jackson, Hull

Privatisation is, was and always will be about taking something from the general public and charging the general public an extortionate price for a service.

Dennis Fuller, London

Stop the rip-offs and the poor service.

Connor Scarlett, London

Sick of useless Thameslink.

S Riley, St Albans

Were there a viable alternative for me, I would definitely not be spending £85 per month for such poor service. The private companies are utterly useless in this case.

Bryn Escott-Allen, Gloucester

It is a public service and needs to be in public control with no purpose for profit.

Yvonne Sanders, Maidenhead

Everywhere I travel in Europe by train they’re cheaper and much more efficient.

Robert Canning, Glasgow

British Rail, gas and electricity should never have been sold, because they belonged to the people and should all be brought back to where they belong.

John Richardson, Blackpool

Let us end the current rip-off system. Run the railways as a service, not as a way for parasites to make money.

Mickey Rooney, Grimsby

it was run better when it was BR.

Padda Brewster, Wolverhampton

Stop the fat cats and bring back a national rail service which would be safer and modern.

Paul Oliver, Mexborough

Transport is a public necessity. Let the government make money on caviar.

Said Otmani, Croydon

A unified national network run in the interests of passengers can only be better than the current fragmented system run in the interests of private profit and bureaucrats.

John Marsden, Lochgilphead

It’s about time we started taking back those services meant for the people not big business.

Martin D’souza, Northampton