The Guardian view on Labour and rail renationalisation: a sensible plan that passengers need | Editorial

Many are concluding that late and cancelled trains, dirty and overcrowded carriages, and broken toilets make journeys too unpredictable or unpleasant, and are driving, flying or staying put instead.

Labour’s plans to renationalise the rail industry in its first term, laid out by the shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, on Thursday, are sensible and welcome.

Network Rail returned to the public sector in 2014, and almost one in four passenger journeys, including in Wales and Scotland, are on trains run by the Department for Transport’s own operator of last resort.

Beyond ownership, the proposals for structural reform essentially adopt the plans drawn up for Boris Johnson by a rail review chaired by Keith Williams, the former chief executive of British Airways.

That would be bad for air quality and climate policy, the British economy and society more broadly, exacerbating the UK’s London-centrism and weakening the nations and regions.

A serious attempt to fix them also reinvigorates hope that Labour is willing and able to tackle the impoverished public sector and halt the broader slide.