That's mostly just a UK thing; you can blame John Major, to a large extent.

(Unusually, not Thatcher; even Thatcher was against privatising the railways.)

Arguably it was kind of the same problem as Brexit; the Tories expected to lose in 1992, so felt free-er to put all sorts of stupid shit in their manifesto, including privatising the railways. Then they won. Surprisingly, they did not learn their lesson.

> Not even factoring in safety which becomes a priority if you have a family.

Huh? Are you claiming that trains are more unsafe than cars?