It seems like Britain is in love with privatization. I gather there used to be huge state monopolies that didn't offer good value to consumers (the trains, British telecom, and British gas for example). However, I think the privatization has been successful only in some areas. Mostly, those where there is direct competition. For instance, the phones, internet, and utilities have lots of competition, and the prices seem reasonable. Other things, such as the trains, are not. There are some 20 train companies throughout the country, but they each seem to have one area that they cover. This means there is little competition about who you can take to get to the same place. In fact, if there are two companies that run between the same two cities, the standard fare is the same regardless of which company you travel with. Sometimes you can get discount tickets, but that is mostly for long haul trains. Somehow the benefits of privatization got lost in the transition from public to private.