A direct train from London to Wrexham? The chance to whiz to Scotland for less than £50? Trains run by a firm specialising in a single route, competing to lure customers away from the expensive big operators? What’s not to like? Given the promise of cheaper fares to under-served UK destinations, it is perhaps little wonder that Labour’s plan for a “pragmatic” renationalisation of the railways matches the Conservatives’ policy on “open access” train providers. It also signals that the party remains open for business. That means likes of Lumo, which in 2021 joined Hull Trains and Grand Central on the east coast mainline, can rest easy after the local elections, even while parent companies FirstGroup and Arriva face ejection from main national rail routes under a Labour government. Privately owned open access operators are a curiosity. Rightwing thinktanks would love to see a multitude of them competing on the railways. But their scope is limited by physical constraints such as depots, track space, timetables, stations and connections. So far, only the east coast trio have stayed (as well as, technically, Heathrow Express and Eurostar), accounting for 3.8m journeys in 2022-23 (the nationalised London North Eastern Railway accounts for 23.4m)....