Calls to reform the system are growing amid anger over rising fares and poor punctuality.
And despite growing passenger anger, fares will rise next year, rather than the lower Consumer Prices Index.
At the time, the government hoped that those private firms would compete on most routes through a system known as"open access". Rather than bidding for entire lines, services themselves were on offer.But that left the taxpayer to pick up the tab for all loss-making services. When the network was publicly-owned, these would have been subsidised by the profitable ones.
"The reality is though, there isn't a lot of competition on the railway - apart from the franchising system itself."
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