SARDINE-TIN commutes and clapped-out trains are the grim legacies of privatisation, unions said yesterday after MPs urged ministers to take responsibility for Britain’s under-resourced railways.

A transport select committee report slammed Christmas chaos at Paddington and King’s Cross stations and expressed concern that Network Rail could not carry out more than one major upgrade at once.

“Network Rail must demonstrate that it can deliver key improvements, such as electrification in the North West and the Great Western Main Line, on time and while still delivering safe and efficient services for all passengers,” committee chairwoman Louise Ellman said.

The report also accused the government of palming off the north of England with decrepit coaches while ordering shiny new trains for the south.

Many regions are still operated by the ageing ‘Pacer’ units — converted buses attached to rail chassis.

The rickety ride on Pacers has earned them the nickname “nodding donkeys.”

Rail union TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “We welcome the committee’s call for an end to the north-south divide on rail spending.”

And RMT leader Mick Cash said the state of the rail network was a “daily insult to passengers paying the highest fares in Europe.”

“Twenty years of fragmentation, mismanagement and private profiteering on Britain’s railways have left maintenance, upgrading, expansion and fleet replacement programmes miles behind where they need to be to keep pace with surging passenger demand,” he said.

“That has left us in the ludicrous position where rolling stock is being shifted from the north to the south.”