Ronald McGrath’s letter last week about railway nationalisation being incompetent is true only because successive governments starved British Railways of funds.

If private enterprise is so successful why does it need such massive subsidies?

Had the old BR the same sort of investment it would have been a success just like Japanese railways with their Schinkansens, the fastest railways on Earth.

I’ve travelled often on Dutch and German privatised railways which are reliable and profitable because the railway track is divided up between the rival companies forcing them to cooperate to make their rail systems a success, whereas in the UK Railtrack was put in charge of all the tracks and became incompetent and eventually went bankrupt.

If Jeremy Corbyn renationalises the railways and follows the Japanese model, the UK once again will have a railway system to be proud of.

After all, way back Nippon railways copied the British model; we could return the compliment!

Ron Pearse, Nascot Street, Watford