The counter argument is that Switzerland has a rail infrastructure that can cope with the volume of passengers; we have allowed numbers to soar without expanding capacity.
I read an interview a while back with a feller who ran SBB, Switzerland's train company; he said "If the timetable shows the train will arrive at 3PM, and the clock shows 3PM and the train isn't here then it's either not a Swiss train or not a Swiss clock".
He said that late trains were almost...
British rail used to have their own national telephone network, the Brighton exchange was in the depot in New England Road. Last time I went there was in the late 80's though and I'm not sure they still operate it.
There's your problem. With a single organisation overseeing all rail travel then they might well have modernised by now but when there are several franchises, all of whom are in it for a short term profit rather than long-term responsibility, none of them will take on modernising a system that...