When the railways were privatised there was a period of good growth in rail travel, and a more positive management enthusiasm for promoting rail travel and identifying growth opportunities. One obvious example was to add a short spur line to Heathrow airport. This  large centre for people on the move had been ignored by the nationalised industry.
The nationalised business usually followed a policy of shrink and sack. They wanted trainload traffic for freight, not individual waggon loads. They allowed or encouraged the closing of sidings and links into industrial premises. They watched as business shifted to industrial parks near motorway junctions in place of the older Trafford Park style based around rail links. They  ceased to actively promote U.K. holiday and events travel in the way the pre war railways  had.
Today there are opportunities for growth. To recapture more of the going to work trade they need flexible fares and tickets to attract and retain the 2 or 3 day a week commuter. To recapture lost freight and get many more Lorries off the road they need to actively promote waggon loads with more direct access into industrial sites and estates. Â Single waggon marshalling and freight train assembly should be easier in a digital and containerised age.
They need to be more customer friendly in moving large numbers of people to and from events. A large concert or sporting contest struggles to provide adequate affordable parking and road access, and many people attending want to drink alcohol so they cannot drive. There need to be enough special trains.
The railway could work more closely with holiday resorts and other popular destinations. The railway did respond to the rise of Bicester Village as a shopping destination as an example of what can be done.
The railway can expand its capacity by introducing digital signalling on all routes. This allows central control and individual train visibility of all that is on the track, so more trains an hour can be run safely. As most track is one way only and as trains can only leave a track if points are changed it should be a very safe method of travel. Modern technology should eliminate crashes between trains on the same track,
August 10, 2024
Good morning.
All this requires investment / spending. And the government has a black hole of ÂŁ20bn to fill. So where is the money going to come from ?
August 10, 2024
It’s all gone down the black hole of HS2. A useless rail line from Not-Quite-Birmingham to Not-Even-London.
August 10, 2024
Indeed and one idiotically supported by all the parties. So was this driven by fools, crony capitalism or fraud?
But the money also pissed down the drain, mainly by Sunak, on net harm lockdowns, net harm unsafe Covid vaccines even coerced into people with no need of them, PPE negligence and fraud, the test and trace incompetence/fraud, covid loan fraud, his and the BoE currency debasement agendaâŠ
August 10, 2024
9 and 1/2 thousand.
August 10, 2024
Well said.
And Birmingham is NOT a destination. Lots needs to be done to try and develop Birmingham more for this to happen.
But Cambridge IS a destination. The university. Beautiful, cultured city. Science & tech. And many high tech companies already based there.
Be great to see a beautiful iconic, fast, red-double-decker train, some of the way underground from London to Cambridge with a beautiful, upgraded station in Cambridge and a similar departure area in the train station in London – and so help Cambridge as the world’s second Silicon Valley.
Boring underground is now getting cheaper and cheaper and so no need to disturb the beautiful English countryside.
Also, with a stop at Stansted airport to create more air traffic capacity to London and quick transport from Stansted to London (and Cambridge). In fact, Stansted would become an important airport for Cambridge.
August 10, 2024
As the objective is to curtail travel with the WEF proposed 15 minute cities, it would go against current policies to expand rail travel.
The latest wheeze is to destroy the holiday letting business after finishing off the private landlord. Everything TTK and his moronic sidekicks do is anti growth so don’t expect any sensible policies.
August 10, 2024
WellâŠ. growth is an ideological No-No.
Too capitalist. Too industrial.
Along with high interest rates.
Possessions,
SavingsâŠ
Except for some I daresay!
August 10, 2024
Growth is not capitalist per se.The Soviet Union had growth targets-more so than ‘capitalist’ countries at the time-to be realised via the Five Year Plans that Stalin introduced.
Both capitalism and communism are materialist philosophies-they just vary in the means adopted to achieve that growth.
August 10, 2024
My meaningâŠand moreover why I put âNo Noâ is that leftists regard growth as being bad for the planet and as only enriching for the already rich.
And I said âtooâ capitalistâŠ.ie considered to be leaning towards capitalism in an unsavoury way by the leftists in government.
In response to Ianâs comment on anti growth.
Growth for me but not for thee..I imagine.
August 10, 2024
and all the 5-year plans went to shit.
August 11, 2024
‘Growth’ on its own is a silly word. It should be growth + depth + diversity of economy.
Otherwise you end up like a teenager with a sudden growth spurt but not the bones and muscles and ligaments to support it. And the teenager ends up boom and bust ..
August 11, 2024
Seems so.
August 10, 2024
Some of it is currently being collected by fines on road users which is increasing every year by mindless penalising and constant one-way or very limited speed restrictions.
August 10, 2024
Talking of new fines…. It was reported last night that, local councils were to start fining people for swearing in public. Here in Wokingham, it could be a nice little earner kerching.
August 10, 2024
Well they realised what an amazing untouched opportunity for fines when the Libdems went round Wokingham canvassing.
August 10, 2024
I don’t think John’s getting it. Banging on about railways.
Britain has entered a very dark era. And his generation and political class is responsible for it. Whatever the BBC presentation the country is seething.
It’s like listening to a Colonel from the Boar War pontificating about the tactics of WW3.
If only the Tory party had been a fraction as competent as the railway TOCs. At least little kids would not have been killed.
August 10, 2024
I honestly donât think the Heathrow Express is much of a recommendation for privatised rail. Itâs an absurdly expensive option that seems to get by using hard sell tactics to rip off foreign tourist arrivals who donât realise there are much cheaper tube options that will take them exactly where they want rather than being dumped at Paddington where theyâll have to get a tube anyway.
August 10, 2024
But the drop-off and airport parking charges and ULEZ cost must have pushed more travellers onto rail.
August 10, 2024
On to the tube (Piccadilly & Elizabeth Lines) rather than rail I expect.
August 10, 2024
same thing as far as I am concerned.
August 10, 2024
I would prefer tourists on the Heathrow express rather than cluttering up the Piccadilly line with all their luggage.
Perhaps charge a hefty fee for carrying luggage from Heathrow. Other lines would remain as before, as luggage is not an issue for them.
August 10, 2024
Well if trains and cars competed on a level tax/subsidy playing field trains would double in price and road transport would get about 30% cheaper. Demand for trains would fall very considerably if car users were no longer forced to subsidise rail users.
If 200 people want to go from A to B at time X and a line exists form A to B and they do not wish to call off on route or carry much luggage, shopping, tools⊠then a train can make perhaps make sense. But in the real world this is very rarely the case. When we get self driving cars road transport will become even more competitive.
The government still claim trains are more energy/CO2 efficient. This too is rarely the case when end connections, staff, ticketing, track maintenance/construction, typical occupancy is properly considered.
The other problem with trains is they are so vulnerable to disruption by unions, fallen trees, floods and are hugely inflexible. Trains find it hard to divert round a blocked bit if track. Travel on bank holidays and Christmas invariable unreliable as staff quite like taking these days off or stiking.
August 10, 2024
Roadworks make driving unpleasant.
I drove around to one of my sisters to do some gardening work and when I had finished the Richmond road was gridlocked. One lane around Kingston bus garage due to unmanned roadworks. If I was not carrying tools I could have walked past the gridlock and hopped on public transport.
Anytime I drive now there are roadworks somewhere. When I arrive I have to find parking.That has all disappeared now. Roads are congested even mid morning and mid afternoon.
August 10, 2024
I think we’ve largely been here before. Reality is whilst not perfect BR was a thousand times better than the stagnant privatised hell the railways have deteriorated into since the rushed privatisation programme of Major’s government.
Railfreigt itself has seen differing fortunes as to what each company was left with – EWS / DB SCHENKER has seen it’s work hugely shrunk by the closure of the the coal mining and generating industry. Container traffic alternatively is the success story with efforts to install pop up container modal shift hubs around the big cities.
The Channel Tunnel from a freight perspective has been a monumental failure due to high charges and protectionism from it’s French operators.
There is much to do and much that could be done but as in so many other fields the world leading short termism that dominates industrial planning and investment in this country is what – excuse the pun – derails it all.
August 10, 2024
British Rail was truly dire. But this botched privatisation and poor regulation is rather dire too. Not even any loo at many stations. Air-con on trains (and buses) often out of action and no windows that open either.
August 11, 2024
Well said. And if you’re a Capitalist, there are lots of quicker, easier and more interesting ways of making money than in the railways.
August 10, 2024
maybe, if they were much cheaper to use without convoluted, tricky-dicky split/special deals and could be relied on.
But railways are not critical whereas industry and commerce are together with education, finance and a low tax/regulatory environment.
August 10, 2024
Indeed it can take nearly as long to work out which ticket to buy and if you can afford to restrict it to one train or spit the ticket as it does to drive there. Driving, where no tickets are needed and you can just leave as and when you wish too, store your bags, shopping, tools in the car and change your plans as needed.
August 10, 2024
Why do trains need wires on the track for signalling?
Why not use dual GPS. So there is always a back up network.
It should be a software project with not much hardware.
August 10, 2024
Too many tunnels, and dead-areas within high-rise buildings etc.
August 10, 2024
Too unreliable and unsafe esp with tunnels plus delays in the signals.
August 10, 2024
So Sir Two Tier Kierâs attacks of free speech and his speeded up show trials continue, surely conclusive proof of two tier policing. Kier and the Police Chiefs deny this however, despite the abundant evidence everywhere. We even have harsher sentences for certain so called âhate crimesâ written into law. If this and Starmer’s show trial are not proof of two tier policing and justice.
I see King Charles has called for âmutual respectâ and unity following (allegedly) racist riots targeting Muslims and migrants in Britain. I think I shall stick to respecting things that have earned respect and are worthy of respect myself. Rather than blanket mutual respect King Charles style. It seems he will not bother to visit any of the riot areas or try to understand the grievances.
Perhaps King Charles should stick to his fine dining in PARIS â A decadent dinner costing nearly âŹ475,000 for the U.K.âs King Charles III helped push Franceâs ĂlysĂ©e Palace â the office of President Emmanuel Macron âto a record high deficit last year. At least this might distract him from his deluded climate hypocrisy.
Farage asked the question was Axel Rudakubana known to the police before this tragedy. He got no answer it seems.
August 11, 2024
One does agree – what a Labour led basket case we are. Very sinister.
August 10, 2024
Good Morning,
CASE STUDY.
Recently a school nearby in Devon made a class DAY trip (out and back in a single day) to London; about 20 children and 5 adults. Why did they hire a coach for that day out rather than go by train? There is a fast-ish rail service from the centre of town to Paddington, journey times would have been quicker by train, but they went by coach. They travelled at ‘off-peak’ hours, very early depart, late return.
Common sense will tell you. Rail is now of limited use, it needs to understand who its customers are and offer a cost and service competitive product. It cannot compete with road in most cases.
August 10, 2024
answer- reliability!
August 11, 2024
It is door to door and probably cheaper too.
August 10, 2024
Could the railways help growth as they did in the UK, USA, and our empire. Yes they could under the management of an organisation like Amazon. I doubt if they ever will, being seen by the trade union movement as a means of exerting political power.
To really work well they need to think beyond signalling to the point of full automation. It happens already on some inter terminal airport railways. So why not run it out on one relatively isolated line until the problems are recognised and overcome, then you have a marketable system or tool which can be applied to all the expansion ideas you itemise. I would suggest starting with a London tube line and build on it until the whole system runs on autpilot.
With this government it will not happen because it would put them in conflict with their income source. The last governments vision was fanciful, and financially illiterate, witness HS2, so their quality of forward thinking would be inadequate.
In essence our second rate railways are merely a symptom of malaise and government’s incapability of organising anything that crosses it’s desk. Not only do politics need to attract a mucb higher quality of achievement in real life than they currently do, but their scribes need to come from a wider experience of commercial and industrial life than the narrow conduit of oxbridge academia. You may be able to point to very able members of the CS, but overall they and politicians are directly responsible for the totally failed infrastructure that is currently destroying the goose that lays the eggs. We cannot afford the luxury of their involvement in their present form.
August 10, 2024
China,Russia and the Eurasian bloc clearly think so.If you look at the Belt & Road Initiative plan with its six land corridors:-
1.China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor
2.New Eurasia Land Bridge Economic Corridor
3.China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor
4.China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
5.Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor
6.China-Indo-China Peninsular Economic Corridor
you will see that railways play a crucial role in trade connectivity-and indeed much railway construction is currently underway linking points across this vast landmass.DHL recently reported that requests to transport goods via the Russian rail corridor had jumped by c40% since container ships started to divert to the longer Cape route due to the Houthi blockade of the Red Sea/Suez canal.Chengdu(China) to Duisberg(Germany) via Russia takes 25-30 days,the Cape route 50-55 days(c7-10 days longer than the Suez option).
August 11, 2024
I was train travelling around India last year in remote desert areas and the trains were more reliable (and way cheaper) than here in the South East UK ..
August 10, 2024
The answer to the question posed in the title of your diary today is “possibly yes, but probably no”. There is, to this distant observer, little evidence that the imagination to come up with good ideas exists in the railway industry. It certainly lacks the finance or ability to control the costs of running railways. It is ensnared in political interference by politicians who think they know best. It is at the mercy of trade unions who have elevated the use of strikes to a fine art in the cause of extracting higher and higher pay rises to the inconvenience of customers who must pay. It’s prices, I am told and read about, are off the chart. On the other side of the equation they have built some grand stations. We are promised the state run Great British Railways as the latest solution. Based on past experience I am not convinced it will have the answers.
August 10, 2024
Trains sharing the same track for opposite-destined trains are as risky as opposite-destined cars sharing the same road space: Head on collision at double the speed.
Thatâs why the wastefully-expensive and obstructive barrier was added to motorways, as an afterthought. A shunt from the rear has much less resistance impact, pushing the vehicles forward into clearer space.
Removing congestion, waste and dangers of both rail and motorway travel would help growth and productivity.
August 10, 2024
Railway companies reportedly enjoyed 10% revenue growth year-on year up to December 2023. FirstGroup profits grew by a third in their most recent profit announcement. That’s the kind of growth they’re after, not providing more and better services to the public. Why after all would they change a business model (including huge subsidies) that’s working so well for them? Let’s keep in mind that ‘privatised’ means ‘for-profit’.
Reply They are heavily directed by government and several have been taken over by the state!
August 11, 2024
It’s not worth wasting time and energy on the railways. They will always be a black hole on government finances- like around the world. Government just needs to pay for them (with some privatisation) or let them go to pot (not great idea) whilst focusing time and energy on how to help our High Tech industry to grow.
August 10, 2024
âThe railwayâ is fragmented. It also has a short term outlook on business . It is heavily focussed on government subsidy.
So the ambitions mentioned in this article are not really part of the business plans of the various companies that comprise the railway.
Reply The railway is effectively nationalised with all track, signals and timetabling done by the state!
August 10, 2024
â The railway is effectively nationalised with all track, signals and timetabling done by the state!â
I would not use the word âeffectivelyâ. I would say the government backtracked and took over the bits that had failed under private enterprise.
Either way, there is no joined-up national service. The lifetime railwayman is also a thing of the past. Franchises do not employ people who believe they will be there until they retire. We cannot even build the rolling stock in this country.
Reply The last Labour government nationalised all the key assets except for the trains and Ministers sign off all timtetables, contracts etc. Thus is a nationalised industry.
August 11, 2024
And that’s how it should be! It’s a waste of energy and time to focus on them. We need to focus on turning UK into second Silicon Valley so we can earn loads more money – with the railways just being a quaint distraction. Railways lost cause for capitalists to make a decent buck out of (unless being corrupt like in Post Office ..)
August 10, 2024
I’m beginning to wonder if Sir John has a secret model railway in his loft. He seems to be a bit obsessed with the railways đ
Flexible season tickets for 3-day-a-week commuters is a good idea. It should be easy to block-book a number of identical journeys and get a discount.
Special trains for some Events, if they are being held in a local where there is a station in the vicinity, is a good idea. But that basically means Events held in major towns or cities unless the railway also arranges for coaches to ferry people to and from the nearest station (I believe this happens at Castle Cary station for people going to Glastonbury).
Many of our holiday resorts don’t have a railway service (Brixham, Sidmouth, Woolacombe, Lyme Regis in the SW don’t). But anyway, who wants to pitch up in a holiday resort for a week (with or without kids) when the chances are it will rain non-stop and not have a car which will at least allow you to visit some attractions in the vicinity and get out of the rain?
Reply No, I write about them because they take more than ÂŁ30 bn a year off taxpayers for poor and limited service, dominating the Transport budget for a minor proportion of out total travel.
August 10, 2024
To reply – Indeed the demand is for better roads but they strangle and block roads, over tax cars and force taxpayer to subsidise the trains. The real demand for trains, if they paid their way without subsidy and with similar tax rates to cars would be less than half current demand so then fare would rise to circa three times current and demand would fall yet again.
August 10, 2024
I’m disappointed. Roger Daltry has one and so does Rod Stewart so you’d be in very good company.
August 10, 2024
Sir John is a car enthusiast. I understand we are called âpetrol-headsâ.
August 11, 2024
More from the era of ‘keep on running ‘
August 10, 2024
The simple solution to get more people on trains is to reduce the cost and confusing complexity of ticket purchasing, and the use of nominated train times.
Not sure if enough extra people at lower cost will make up the revenue.
Advance Ticket purchasing is now required if you want to travel at a sensible cost, why ?
August 10, 2024
Often the Advance cost is still not sensible, but users pay against a worse alternative.
August 10, 2024
And those pre purchase tickets are very dodgy.
Machines etc canât recognise them.
Not valid etc.
Not what you want on a journey!
August 10, 2024
A full car can cost less than 1/10 of travel by train per passenger mile. This despite the train subsidies and car taxes. Much more flexible too and no need for the extra end journeys.
August 10, 2024
A good old chestnut quickly parked through cost and lead in times.
August 10, 2024
Actually they need STAFF to sell tickets.
Very computer/machine/A.i/whateverelse savvy relative nearly didnât make it to a London meeting because however they sell tickets now ( hostile robot?) âŠ.DIDNâT WORK.
And no helpful staff
August 10, 2024
Staff are disappearing everywhere.
Even to go a cricket match you are pushed to buy a ticket online! The Oval charge an extra ÂŁ5 if you buy at the gate on the day. Lords are not keen on buying on the day either and it is cashless inside the ground.
If anything goes wrong you have to ring to correct it
You usually get put straight into a queue with a message that staff are ‘very busy today’ can please try our online site.
August 10, 2024
+++
This country has been turned into a living nightmare.
The agenda is being forced through whatever the consequences.
And however much we used to moan it all worked so smoothly and sweetly before!
August 10, 2024
Growth.
Britain is on the cusp of something really awful.
I utterly despair.
August 10, 2024
+++
Me too.
The way they are going travel will be totally obsolete.
Nothing to travel for.
Nowhere to go.
All shut down.
Tumbleweed towns.
August 10, 2024
Doubtless Ed Miliband will be delighted that it is reported his local airport in Doncaster may well soon re-open for flights which may add to the area’s growth.
August 10, 2024
He does seem pretty pleased.
Labour apparently in favour of airport expansions.
What about NZ?
From The Guardian 1 year ago by Christopher Foren
âUnfortunately for voters, Labourâs position on aviation is no better: Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports are all owned by a consortium of Labour-controlled local authorities in Greater Manchester. All have plans to expand passenger numbers or freight operations. Luton airport is owned by the Labour-run Luton borough council. It, too, has plans for expansion. When visiting Leeds in 2021, Keir Starmer told a TV interviewer that he wasnât opposed to expansion of regional airports.â
August 10, 2024
But can you see any of this happening when the last vestiges of commercial incentive are removed by our brave new Government?
August 10, 2024
Rail transport will become more popular once the government has taken away peopleâs cars with their net-zero nonsense. Nobody seems to be flagging up the problems of forcing electric vehicles onto the unsuspecting public i.e. where will they charge them, the cost of buying them, the short life of batteries, the short range, and the lack of grid capacity. It is all aimed at reducing freedom of movement. We also have the looming crisis in the private rental sector with the absurd EPC regulations that wonât apply to private or council houses. I expect this is to allow corporations to buy out the small investors so they can select a certain demographic to fill these properties as SERCO is currently doing. The government has a plan and the British people are being manipulated into believing it is to save the planet when itâs anything but. People need to open their eyes instead of sleepwalking into this dystopian future.
August 10, 2024
Recently I travelled by express train to London and spoke to the ‘train manager’, who was sitting in his little office on the train next to the cafe/bar. Neither he nor anyone else on the train had seen my ticket, but he knew where I had been sitting on the full train. Pondering this late at night, I realized that I was an ‘unidentified traveller’, I had paid for my ticket with cash, and the train manager’s computer in his office plus the cameras had flagged me. I expect the system is based on EU rules and has been for years and makes it easy for our rulers to grab anyone they don’t like.
August 10, 2024
The UK should start to consider replacing the rail network with a monorail system for passenger traffic;
The current railways and rolling stock are costly to maintain, heavily unionised, unreliable ,expensive to use and take up vast areas of land.
The monorail is extensively and succesfully operated in China,Germany,Brazil and America and are ideal for connections to airports.They are cheap to operate, very fast, use free air space, run on clean energy ,are very safe and would be cheaper to use than the current railway system.
They can run above existing road and rail infrastructure leaving the roads and railways to be used extensively for freight.
The cost involved in HS2 and buying back the railways into state ownership should be channelled into a UK wide monorail system which would reduce our dependancy on rail travel and free up large areas of land in towns and cities for future development.
August 10, 2024
In a word, no. Rail is expensive because it is 19th century engineering â steel wheels on a steel track laid on a stone or gravel bed. It is also extremely inflexible and cannot provide the door-to-door service needed. Rail is as out-of-date today as were canals when the railway arrived. Most of the rail network, except possibly for busy commuter routes into and between major cities, needs to be replaced by a tarmac road along which only licenced private vehicles can operate. These vehicles could be trucks or passenger carrying coaches or even both and they can be safely controlled for lane and distance discipline with computer control. Added flexibility arises not simply because of the smaller vehicle sizes but because they can operate as ânormalâ vehicles when back on the ânormalâ roads for load/passenger pickup and deposit at final destination. This will provide bulk and passenger transport which is not only far cheaper than rail but far more flexible and reliable. It also prevents the traveling public from being held to ransom from strikes by drivers whose wages are akin to BBC newsreaders.
But rail, like all Net Zero projects, will be heavily subsidised as the plan is to eliminate the freedom of personal travel.
August 10, 2024
Trains No âŠwhat could help growth is to fix the pot-holes, increase motorway repairs/maintenance and speed, stop taxing and fining the car driver, make all roads, tunnels & bridges toll free, remove all ULEZ, LANs and bus lanes âŠget Britain moving unhindered
August 10, 2024
Absolutely. If economic and social improvement is desired, then invest money and ideas into all roads. We have a system, so no massive replanning is needed, just repair properly, not bad patching, and improve and enlarge what we have first – everywhere and in everything. Not difficult.
What we must not have is what we had between my village and the next. It had been neglected and was full of potholes and in the years the grass edges had grown into the road area so it is now narrower than when it started.
What was done was a resurfacing only. The bottoms of all the potholes too were resurfaced, so we still have the potholes, some were deep, they just look nicer. The edges were left alone.
Incompetent and love of neglect Council managers.
August 11, 2024
You have given me a picture of linings individually fitted to potholes and hand finished with loving care by a ceramicist exploring new materials.
I understand the ever enterprising Lord Bamford’s JCB has a pot hole filling machine that works with remarkable speed. But first you might need to clip the hedges. He has another machine for that. He might be interested in a using your lanes for a product demonstration – a rapid trim and fill.
August 10, 2024
what a crazy idea…..it will never work.
Suggest it to your MP, go on have a laugh.
August 10, 2024
The problem is management quality, government interference and a need for more vision. The Government should have privatised everything and then left rail alone to sink or swim.
August 10, 2024
If SirJ will allow âŠwhy arenât the UK Olympic kits in âred, white & blueâ representing our culture, tradition & our flag. Why are they in black ?
August 10, 2024
How does more people taking a train ride promote the magic âgrowthâ? If I take a train next time I want to come up to Berkshire, instead of using my car, how have I contributed to economic growth? It would cost me a lot more so Iâd have less to spend on other things.
Reply An expanding rail business collecting more fares adds to growth just as any other business helping more customers.
August 11, 2024
The one thing one can be sure of is that monopolies always become self-serving. Before the railways were privatised this was obvious about British rail. But afterwards I found that there is one thing worse than a state monopoly and that is a private monoply, which becomes both self-serving and rapacious.
Have railways ever been genuinely profitable anywhere in the world? The answer is only in specific cases of long-distance travel or where a railway is run as part of a broader synergistic enterprise based on the idea of a hub and profit is measured across the whole, not just the rail element. Not even in Germany and Japan are local or commuter trains profitable.
There is an interesting paper showing that in UK the return on capital of British railways had become negative by the 1870s. (Brunel died in 1859.) Obviously there was massive investment in European railways occasioned by the needs of war culminating in WW1 when profitability was not a consideration. Having built them, you’re more or less stuck with them and governments tend to fall for the sunk cost fallacy.
So the real question is how to minimise public subsidy of rail. I would think the first thing to do is to look at the limited circumstances in which rail works best either alone or in conjunction with other forms of transport to meet definable needs rather than trying to make rail generally useful and profitable across the country. Should companies be set up to operate road, rail and air in complementary ways? Whatever might be the optimum solution for the UK it would difficult to implement in practice because you have to start from where you are: it’s not a greenfield site, but brown, very brown.