In the UK we used to have a nationalized rail system. People were always rude about the late trains, stale sandwiches etc. But I once managed to leave a bag Xmas present on a train. I only realized when I got another train. They were so helpful, they managed to find the bag and have it sent on to me. I think we lost a lot of that good will when the UK rail system was privatised. And the privatised trains were still late, but much more expensive.

I think this really nails something people struggle to put into words: it wasn't that the system was perfect, it was that it felt human

I've left my bag with my laptop in a station a year or two ago and went to lost property and they called me when they found it and I got in back in a day or so, I guess if they have a specific lost property office that's kind of their job but it's nice that no one tried to steal it or anything

I agree. The railway now is mean, willing to prosecute, unhelpful and expensive

I've read various accounts of people trying to reclaim lost baggage and it's a Kafkaesque process designed to be totally useless

But the railway operators are 50% nationalised now. Northern, TransPennine, South West Railway, LNER, Greater Anglia, c2c, ScotRail, Southeastern, TfW are all government owned.

And the forerunner in increasing fares the last couple of years has been...the government. They renationalised various operators during and after COVID and are now busy decreasing rail subsidies and increasing fares.

(yes even with the freezing of some fares in April. It's only some fares. And prices had been going up multiple times a year in many places for a few years. There is a wider picture and other schemes happening pushing up prices)

Maybe Great British Rail will slowly and surely return us to a less mean system. Time will tell