The UK railways are expensive, and I have a car, so I very rarely go by train. But all those road trips cost everyone else, in terms of congestion, pollution etc. Maybe the railways should be regarded as critical infrastructure, run at a loss and subsidised accordingly.

You mean nationalised?

You realise even the subsidies go to pay Canadian pension funds [0]

0: https://weownit.org.uk/who-owns-our/railways