Putting British Rail into private hands was always controversial. Margaret Thatcher thought it was a privatisation too far. It was former Tory PM John Major who pushed it through in 1993, against stiff opposition.
The aim was to cut costs, boost competition and improve services. Mostly it was about improving the stale sandwiches, a staple joke of 1970s comedy.
At first, privatisation seemed a success as rail travel boomed.
Then came the Hatfield crash of 2000, caused by poorly maintained track. Track maintenance firm Railtrack was nationalised, while government subsidies rocketed to update creaking infrastructure.
Yet I was intrigued to see an article in the left-wing Guardian newspaper, published a decade ago, declaring privatisation a success.
“Forget the nostalgia for British Rail – our trains are better than ever,” ran the headline.
It hailed booming passenger numbers and record-high customer satisfaction, which it contrasted to the “poor punctuality and filthy carriages in the dismal days of British Rail”.
That’s not a widespread view today. Especially among Labour members, who seem to believe nationalisation cures all ills. And to be fair, taxpayers are throwing billions at the supposedly privatised rail sector, while train fares are among the highest in Europe.
Privatisation certainly isn’t on track, if it ever was.
There are arguments in favour of nationalisation. The rail network is a natural monopoly and essential public service.
Plenty of countries have publicly owned rail networks that put ours to shame, including France, Italy and Spain.
It’s not always the case, though. Poor German rail punctuality is a source of national shame, as England fans discovered during this summer’s Euros.
In one way, nationalisation still feels like a backwards step.
Passengers moaned about British Rail, so we privatised it. Now they moan about the private rail companies, so we’re nationalising.
We’re just shunting backwards and forwards, going nowhere.
Unfortunately, the UK state isn’t great at running things and when they fail, the solution is always the same. Throw more money at it.
Reform becomes politically impossible, as Wes Streeting will find out with the NHS.
Our rail network is doomed to remain a political football. It gets worse.
It’s not hard to see who the biggest beneficiaries of nationalisation are going to be, and it won’t be passengers.
The trade unions will love it. Labour is handing them a brilliant new train set to play with, which they will use relentlessly for political purposes.
The last couple of years have seen endless strikes. Starmer thought he could buy the rail unions off, as it did in the 1970s, by caving into all of their demands.
The very next day, they were back for more and didn’t care if they humiliated the PM in the process.
Rail union baron Mick Lynch can’t believe his luck and is calling for unions to seize control of the entire UK economy. The rail network will be their bridgehead, and Starmer has handed it to them without a shot.
And that isn’t even my biggest worry.
Labour has been in power for less than three months, and it’s already made a hash of everything it touches. I certainly wouldn’t trust it to run a railroad.
It could backfire on Starmer. After nationalisation, rail passengers will blame Labour for every strike and delay. If that happens, the PM could quickly find himself up the junction.
