ROSS CLARK: If Burnham thinks bringing back the clanking, wheezing ghost of British Rail will make the trains run on time, here's the proof he's DELUDED

Amid the usual mass of tired commuters at Waterloo station, the lady in the red jacket stood out. As she boarded the 6.14am train to Shepperton in Surrey – which itself had been painted in a gleaming red, white and blue livery – she heralded 'a new dawn for our railways' and said she was travelling with 'a sense of pride'.It was the morning of May 25, 2025, and the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, had arrived to hail one of the first services of the recently renationalised South Western Railway.'I was so adamant I had to be here at Waterloo this morning alongside all these other excited passengers and rail aficionados for what really is a watershed moment,' she added, promising to 'move away from 30 years of inefficiency, delayed services and failing passengers and moving confidently into a new era – the era of Great British Railways'.If anything, her fellow passengers were even more ecstatic. Cat Hobbs, founder and director of We Own It, a pressure group that campaigns for state ownership of all public services, trilled: 'It's really, really positive because we've had now 30 years of an ideological experiment where we tried to pretend there were markets on the railway.'So, more than a year on, how has it all worked out? Well, the luckless passengers trying to travel on South Western from Surbiton to Waterloo in recent days might not have felt Labour's doctrinaire experiment was 'really positive' after all.In the space of just one hour, no fewer than four services were delayed or cancelled – for different reasons. Early-birds wanting to board the 7.31am were told: 'This service has been cancelled because of a derailment within the depot.'Those hoping to cram on to the 8.01am were told: 'This train has been cancelled because of more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.'The 8.11am was 'running late because of a fault within the signalling system'. Finally, the 8.41am was 'delayed because of a shortage of train drivers' – though heaven knows why the drivers of the cancelled trains were unavailable.So much for that 'new dawn'. In fact, since Heidi Alexander took her proud ride to Shepperton, the performance of South Western's trains has only grown worse.In the last quarter before renationalisation, 86.2 per cent of the company's trains ran 'on time' (defined as arriving within three minutes of their scheduled time).In the first quarter of this year – the latest for which the Office of Rail and Road has published data – that was marginally down – to 85.5 per cent. The proportion of trains cancelled, meanwhile, had risen from 3.0 to 3.6 per cent. More than a year since South Western railway was renationalised, the number of its trains running 'on time' is down, while cancelled trains are up Nationalised rail companies have become rapacious. The standard price of a return from London to Edinburgh is an astonishing £409 – more expensive than a transatlantic flightI know how South Western's passengers feel. My local service, Cambridge to King's Cross, run by Govia Thameslink, was renationalised in May. On my next trip to London, three weeks later, the service I wanted to catch had been cancelled. By the time I arrived at the station, the next train had been cancelled, too, and the one after that was running ten minutes late.When the train did arrive, it had only four coaches rather than the usual eight. I used to think myself lucky if I managed to get a seat; I barely had room to stand. Dozens of other furious passengers were left stuck on the platform.One of the first changes the new nationalised rail company made was to slash services in July and August – when many drivers, presumably, enjoy holidays. If that was meant to improve timekeeping, it didn't. The next two times I travelled to London, my train was also cancelled. I squeezed out of the sardine can at King's Cross fully half an hour late.Other recently renationalised services are doing equally badly. If I can't get a Govia Thameslink train, I can take a Greater Anglia train to Liverpool Street. That operator, too, was renationalised in October last year, but again it hasn't led to the glorious new efficiencies and punctuality promised by Ms Alexander.In fact, Greater Anglia suffered the second-biggest plunge in punctuality among rail operators over the past year, with only Caledonian Sleeper services worse.Speaking of Scotland, LNER, which runs services from London to Edinburgh up the East Coast Mainline, was the first franchise to be brought back under state ownership, in June 2018.Eight years on, it is hardly setting an example: 29 per cent of its services ran late in the first quarter of this year. Things have improved a little since the failing Trans Pennine Express was renationalised in May 2023, but not a lot: 27.1 per cent of its services still run late and 3.9 per cent don't even leave the station.Those who use still privatised lines might feel a sense of stayed execution. Avanti West Coast will be nationalised next year, but the Government has held its purse strings since 2023, and a recent report suggests the pockets of its drivers will be stuffed with gold.The Prime Minister has reportedly agreed they should get time-and-a-half pay on Sundays, an above-inflation 3.6 per cent pay rise and up to £720 for just turning up to work on the fifth day of a working week.Expect other unions to beg the Government for even more lavish handouts.None of this will come as any surprise for those of us who are old enough to remember British Rail. I even worked for British Rail – in its research department. The trains then were rattling, dirty and invariably late. The passengers were usually treated as a nuisance. When a train service in Devon suffered from overcrowding, it cancelled the service rather than put on extra carriages.One of the first effects of privatisation, which began under John Major in 1994, was a sharp uplift in passengers as rail companies started to attract customers rather than shoo them away.But at least British Rail services were fairly cheap. Despite the expectation that fares on a renationalised network would fall as there would no longer be shareholders to cream off profits, prices have surged. Few predicted just how much Great British Railways would jack up fares to eyewatering levels.Last year, LNER announced it was going to 'simplify' its fares, which is never a good sign. It abolished 'off-peak' and 'super off-peak' fares, and forced passengers to buy either a full-price 'anytime' ticket or take their chance with an 'advance' ticket, only so many of which are available on each service. If you miss the train for which your ticket was valid, you must buy another.For the millions who can't plan journeys in advance, this means the standard price of a return from London to Edinburgh is an astonishing £409 – more expensive than the cheapest return flight from London to New York (on the airline Norse Atlantic).I made the journey to Edinburgh back in November 2008, when the line was run by National Express. The cost of my open return Saver ticket was £104, which if adjusted for inflation would now be £175. This means that the renationalised LNER has effectively doubled the cost.Nationalised rail companies have become rapacious, as engineering graduate Sam Williamson found in 2024 when he took a Northern Trains (nationalised in 2020) service from Glossop to Manchester to take a driving test.He paid £3.65 for an 'anytime' ticket using his young person's railcard, only for a ticket inspector to inform him that under the nationalised network's baffling rules, the railcard wasn't valid before 10am on fares below £12 (although it had been during the months of July and August).Rather than let him pay the difference of £1.90, the pettifogging official threatened a private criminal prosecution. The matter was only dropped when the Department of Transport told the company it was treating innocent passengers as fare-dodgers when they merely were trying to work through its byzantine rules.In short, anyone who thinks bringing back the clanking, wheezing ghost of British Rail will put things right is deluding themselves. On this as on so many things, we are sliding backwards.