So private companies cream off the profits for shareholders without paying in to the infrastructure upgrading and now times are hard want to hand it back to be nationalized, crack on but next time it goes private it will include the bailout costs.
Private companies do not own the infrastructure. It “belongs” to Network Rail, which is government owned. The Train Operating Companies (TOC) pay fees to use the railways; why would they pay for infrastructure investment which is legally and contractually Network Rail’s responsibility to provide.
Next, the tenure of contract of a TOC is IIRC 7 years. There’s no return on major capital investment in that time, which is why the TOCs all lease their trains. Why on earth would a private company invest in infrastructure when someone else can come in with a loss leading bid and take the benefit?
In fact, I’d go further. Almost all of Britain’s railways were built by private companies. The shareholders of those companies were not compensated for their property when the railways were nationalised. Their assets were sequestered by the government of the day.
Those assets were then sold by the Major government when Network Rail was privatised. Only to be sequestered a second time when Stephen Byers re-nationalised rail infrastructure for a second time.
Why the **** would any private company or individual invest in railway infrastructure in Britain?