We the taxpayers are already subsidising them. We should take them over and run the railways as a public service.

Paul Gatenby, Liverpool

Stop wasting tax payer money on private rail. Bring back public owned transportation.

Naomi Wallace, Otterburn

I don’t use the rail network since learning to drive but a national rail network/provider seems to make good financial sense as long as it is allowed to modernise.

William Grant, Surrey

I don’t travel by rail because I don’t know how to go about getting a ticket. Nothing seems to be joined up, finding things out is difficult, so I’ll just clog up the roads.

Neil Kempten, Sudbury

Bring back British Rail, please.

Samuel Joshua, London

I live in the Southern network area, British Rail cannot come back soon enough.

Gareth Bull, Hove

Proletariats should unite wherever.

Hayden Sellick, Newton Abbot

The railways have for too long been an industry wedded to shareholders and profit and not to service delivery. That has to change.

Peter Burrows, Dunstable

I’m still astonished that we sleep-walked into so many privatisations.

Vince Clooney, Tiverton

Just look at the East Coast line. The way forward is to re-nationalise.

Leigh Samuels, Wolverhampton

Staggering tripling of taxpayer subsidy since privatisation, lack of investment (e.g. in electrification), and fares going through the roof. Nationalise now.

John Puntis, Leeds

It took ‘vision’ to establish a national railway system, but it was blindness that took it apart. Are we willing to ‘see’ again?

John Richards, Christchurch

Let’s have an integrated railway.

Christopher Fox, Birmingham

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

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

First Buses need to be brought back too. It’s a poor service, serving shareholders’ interests first.

Miriam Henry, Bristol

They should never have been privatised in the first place.

Johnr Foy, Liverpool

Privatisation and franchising has cost the taxpayer more than a publicly run service would, with no improvement in services.

Rob Hammond, Brighton

What’s the delay?

Dylan Kilgour, Motherwell

In spite of the evidence of the East Coast line thriving under public control, the Tories intend to flog it off to their mates.

Terry Weldon, Basildon

It’s time to take back control from fat cat shareholders and introduce cheaper travel.

Ian Ward, Bridlington

Privatisation was the worst thing that happened to the railways. We are pouring money into private companies’ pockets.

Sandra Jervis, Wakefield

Anyone who has travelled on European trains knows that Britain has a rubbish rail system – slow, expensive, cramped and no longer fit to carry enough freight.

Denise Robson, Gateshead

We need a railway system that does not suffer from constant interference from transport secretaries who have no knowledge of railways or indeed transport.

Mike Friend

I am chair of Tyne and Wear public transport users’ group. This is a network of 15 organisations fighting for an integrated public transport system.

Vicki Gilbert, North Shields

Our rail network should not be a profit-motivated organisation.

Patricia Wormald, Shefford

I do not use railways any more. Why should single fares cost nearly as much as returns?

Helga Baggs, Old Buckenham