It's entirely true that the young of today don't recall the joys of British Rail as was. Just like they can't feel and understand the joys of an Austin Allegro given that they've all rusted into nothing already. But we would hope - against hope as it were - that they could look around the world at state owned railways and consider whether that's what they would really like:

Normally, Agarwal’s bitter experience would have remained a private story. News channels in India very rarely report on the daily hardships of the poor, or show interest in why the trains used by the wealthy run on time while those used by the masses routinely run late. Most news shows restrict themselves to broadcasting studio-based political slanging matches.

This being how government works of course, it listens to those with political voice and doesn't to those without.

Of course, everyone arguing for rail nationalisation is suffering from a variant of Kip Esquire's Law, that every central planner always imagines themselves doing the planning. Here, that it will be my interests that government will listen to. Instead of it being those people over there who might actually influence an election - the way to bet who does have political influence.

Sure, comparing British railways to Indian could be considered a little unfair - although we should remind ourselves that we did build them and gift them their management structure. But even so this is how government control of something works out. Things are pretty good for those who government wishes to favour, because that favours those running government. Everyone else is pretty much out of luck.

The advantage of it all being a profit making concern is that everyone's money spends the same way so gaining it by providing what the poor want, as well as those with political influence, still makes you rich. Therefore it happens, the poor do get catered to.