And if we want to say profit is what drives people, well that's fine... the government should employ people to manage the railways, and they will receive performance related bonuses, based on things like value, overcrowding, reliability, safety and punctuality. The incentive for government to maintain an efficient service should be obvious, and the incentive for the managers to do their job is better pay.

I'm unconvinced a private company has the same incentive. It's easy to sack an underperforming manager (and pay him compensation if a tribunal rules in his favour). It's not easy to rip up a contract between government and an underperforming private company, it is bound to be a drawn-out legal process with a great deal of money at stake.