Wales TUC delegates reaffirmed their commitment to a publicly owned, publicly accountable railway in Wales after train drivers’ union Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan ripped apart the privatisation prospectus.

“They told us that privatisation would drive competition,” he recalled.

“There is no competition because they have created geographical monopolies, with no risk and no innovation.”

The Aslef leader pointed out that it cost £519 million to run the Great Western service every year while income amounted to £570m.

“That’s over £50 million a year going out of the industry, which could be used for investment in the railways.”

Clive Jones of Port Talbot TUC said that the railways had been privatised simply to satisfy political ideology, noting that “even Thatcher refused to go down the road of rail privatisation.”

He called for a wave of public pressure to win the battle for renationalisation.

“Public support to return our railways from the private operators is growing year by year,” he declared.