Public transport, not private profit!

11 private Train Operating Companies (TOCs) paid shareholder dividends totalling £165 million in the latest financial year, an increase of £85 million, more than double, on the previous year.

Why should private capitalists and investors benefit from the operation of a vital public service? Ultimately, we'd like to see transport provided for free, just as healthcare and (some) education is — but while it remains a paid-for commodity on some level, any money generated through its operation should be reinvested in the service, not paid out to fat cats.

Nationalisation can't come soon enough. Our unions need to fight for rolling stock companies, which paid £331 million in dividends to shareholders, to be brought into public ownership too.