RAIL unions marked the 30th anniversary of the network’s privatisation today by issuing damning condemnations of rip-off fares, chaotic and unreliable services and the siphoning off of billions of pounds in taxpayers’ cash by profiteering privateers.

British Rail was broken up and sold off on November 5 1993 by the Conservative government of then prime minister John Major.

A new report by the RMT union revealed today that privatisation has led to at least £31 billion being “siphoned out” of the industry by privateers and “into the pockets of the shareholders of the host of companies that feed off what should be a vital public service.”