An interesting data point to discuss, but not much of a vote for privatisation (which I assume the implication is). In that time we have seen significant urbanisation, which means both more people living in cities and people having to commute to cities to work. Both of these (and limited road capacity) mean more rail travel.

In theory this extra cash and economies of scale should have been an ideal situation whereby rail transport could be significantly improved. In practice we've seen above-inflation fare rises and (in my experience) dreadful services.