The privateers are really up in arms. Stagecoach boss Martin Griffiths, who must be something of a clairvoyant, managed to dismiss Labour’s new rail policy in mid-July as “unworkable” because it would recreate the so-called failures of nationalisation. 

And that was six days before the issue had even been discussed at the party’s policy forum. 

Since Labour announced its new rail policy, a stream of rail bosses have come out to denounce it. They’ve had the temerity to claim that the creation of a public-sector train operator is “unfair.” 

As beneficiaries of privatisation, train operating companies had the dice loaded in their favour and are desperate to ensure that the casino doesn’t lower those odds any time soon. Irony is surely dead.

We taxpayers own the tracks, signals and stations and cover the cost of actually running, maintaining and expanding services while train operating companies continue making profits at our expense. 

What’s not to like if you are a shareholder or senior executive at Stagecoach, Virgin or First Group? 

Even more absurdly, state-owned railway companies from Germany, France and Holland make profits from running services here, which can be used to keep fares down in Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam while we pay the highest prices in Europe. 

And the Tories accuse us of being driven by ideology. As they say in the US — go figure. 

Labour’s firm commitment to legislating to create a new public train operator will start changing the dynamics of our industry. 

As a priority, a Labour government will also “review the failed franchising process and put in place a system that safeguards the interests of passengers and taxpayers.” 

Unless this is conducted by an industry stooge — as was the case with the whitewash Brown review — it can only rationally conclude that franchising and private train operators are not in the public’s interest. 

Put simply, privatisation puts shareholders first at the expense of passengers and taxpayers. That is why our union won’t rest until passenger services are taken back into public ownership, which can happen as franchises expire. 

In his pre-emptive strike, the Stagecoach boss claimed that unions are misleading passengers and the public “about the benefits of the East Coast franchise.” 

He may not be much of a clairvoyant, but nor is his memory so great either. 

It was not us but the Office of the Rail Regulator which found that East Coast Trains is the most efficient operator and returns the most cash to the Treasury. 

Despite this, the Tories want to reprivatise it just before the general election. They are clearly hoping to end the “public-versus-private” debate before going to the country. 

However, as a result of Labour’s commitment to creating a new public train operator, this debate will now continue all the way to polling day. 

The government’s McNulty Report found that our railways are the most expensive to run in Europe. This is hardly surprising given that most countries have publicly run, integrated railways. 

Here, thanks to John Major’s myopic fragmentation, we have a multitude of train operating companies renting trains and paying to access the tracks and stations that we own as taxpayers — crazy! Consequently, we pay the highest subsidy per head in Europe on a railway where walk-on fares on the most popular routes have risen by as much as 245 per cent since 1994. 

Labour is promising to restore public accountability and control to an industry which in the dark days of Railtrack resembled a Wild West frontier town. As well as creating a new public operator, they have promised to:

• As a priority, review the failed franchising process and put in place a system that safeguards the interests of passengers and taxpayers
• Create a new public body which makes the industry accountable to Parliament. It will be “the guiding mind” overseeing our industry and planning investment. It will be responsible for routes, co-ordination of services, overseeing stations, fares, ticketing and skills
• Devolve decisions for running rail services to regional authorities and to Scotland and Wales, so they can bring together trains, buses, ferries and trams into a single network
• Give Network Rail responsibility for procurement and leasing of new trains
• Simplify fares and cap them on every route while also giving passengers the legal right to the cheapest fares.

This amounts to the biggest shake-up in our industry since privatisation. 

Yet our union will not rest until Labour joins up the dots by ensuring that the new public operator takes on lines as franchises expire. 

We believe that offering a new deal on rail ownership and fares can play a key part in ensuring Ed Miliband gets the keys to Number 10 next May. That’s why our union will be pushing hard at both the TUC congress and Labour Party conference for a bolder approach that sees our railways back in public ownership as franchises expire. 

Manuel Cortes is general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association.