TRACKING PROGRESS. Britain’s experiment with privatised railways has come almost full circle. Nearly three decades after handing control to private operators, the government said on Thursday that it was assuming responsibility for most rail services. The private sector gets a slimmed-down role overseeing short-term contracts. The shakeup follows the state’s temporary nationalisation of rail franchises during the pandemic. Take South Western, London’s biggest commuter network. In 2019 it made 1.1 billion pounds of revenue, mostly from ticket sales, which went towards leasing trains, paying staff and other costs. Now most of its old responsibilities sit with the state, and South Western’s private operators get a maximum 19 million pound annual fee for selling tickets and cleaning trains. The move looks like an admission that privatising public monopolies was a mistake, and highlights the Conservative government’s growing tendency to meddle in the economy, for example by buying a stake in satellite operator OneWeb. Investors in other privatised assets, such as water companies, have been warned. (By Ed Cropley) On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews Earlier in Capital Calls: Binge drinking fears validate pricey booze model read more Oaktree puts Inter Milan into financial extra time read more Qantas squirms in its first-class seat read more Retail sales’ wild ride read more Ryanair’s legal win lacks victory lap read more