*Update 2 January 2019*

After another year of railway chaos, train passengers are being hit with up to a whopping 3.1% increase in ticket prices. Rain punctuality is the worst its been in 13 years, and those lucky enough to afford a ticket are packed like sardines into overcrowded carriages. Meanwhile -- shareholders of these privatised rail companies have pocketed *£1 billion* over the past six years. It doesn’t have to be like this. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is having the week from hell. Passengers, unions and thousands of SumOfUs members are demanding an end to this shoddy system -- by bringing all our railways back into public ownership.

Will you add your name to crank up the pressure on failing Chris Grayling?

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Privatised railway networks are yet again in meltdown. Passengers across the country have faced weeks of gruelling delays, cancellations and dangerously overcrowded trains.

It shows yet again that private contractors running these services just aren’t up to the job.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is feeling the pressure: campaigners forced him to bring one of our busiest national train lines temporarily back under state control, and recent polling revealed that nearly two thirds of Britons support rail nationalisation.

Now is our chance to return our railways to public ownership instead of subsidising corporate profits, and create the decent, affordable rail system we desperately need.

Private rail operators turn a profit by cutting corners. These deals save the government money in the short term -- but long term, it’s us who pay.

Rail passengers don’t get a choice over which operator we use. We simply have to get that train. So the government’s decision to offer us only poorly managed, privately run railways leaves us out of pocket and stranded on platforms.

Grayling is in hot water right now over the UK’s failed privatisation experiment. Research by campaigners revealed that he’s just blown millions on private consultants to advise on how to run the newly state-owned East Coast mainline. This half-baked attempt at public ownership is simply a waste of taxpayers' money.

Passengers are desperate for an end to this nightmare. There’s huge momentum on this -- let’s use this moment to push for the best alternative: public ownership! 

Public ownership could make our railways so much better. And if franchises were returned to public hands when they expire, we could phase in the costs of renationalisation, as well as saving money on public subsidies to private corporations!

Europe's mainly state-owned railways are cheaper, more efficient and more comfortable than the UK's. Where the UK has 23 rail operators, creating an unfathomably complex ticketing system and vast amounts of expensive bureaucracy, countries like Germany and Switzerland have just one main publicly-owned train operator, making their railways simpler and cheaper to run.

Just like you, we want to fight back against the corporate capture of our public services. Over 100,000 of us came together to fight NHS privatisation, and right now, tens of thousands of members like you are calling for the nationalisation of our water supplies.

Unions and grassroots activists across the country are fighting tooth and nail for the renationalisation of our railways. Together we can fight for the 64% of voters who support the public ownership of our railways, and put renationalisation back on the agenda.

Add your name to the call for nationalised railways!

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