THE current state of our railway system, its recent record of disasters and its inability to provide adequate, reliable transport for our working population, highlights again the mistake of placing part of the nation's infrastructure into the hands of private enterprise.

Private enterprise under normal conditions is the lifeblood of most thriving communities but when the industry that it takes over, in this case the railways, has no genuine competition, likewise the supply of gas, water and electricity, the true purpose of private enterprise will always become the dominant factor, ie. the provision of dividend profits for its shareholders.

No matter what safeguards the government of the day may place into the contract with such private organisations, the over-riding purpose has to be to make a profit -- nobody can honestly deny this.

When the government of the day sold out British Rail to private interests appoximately ten years ago, huge investments were required in order to modernise the whole system. That is where any profits backed by millions of pounds from the Exchequer should have gone, not into the bank accounts of overpaid directors and wealthy financial institutions etc.

The only priority at that time should have been to provide an efficient rail transport system for the public and small businesses alike. The rewards from such a policy would have been tremendous, not the picture of rail chaos and confusion which we are presented with today.

If any lesson is to be learned from the present rail confusion surely it should be, never place the future of any part of the nation's vital infrastructure into the hands of private enterprise, private not community being the key word.

If anybody has any doubts about the wisdom of such a policy, take a look at who has overriding control of the French or German railway systems. Their railways work for the benefit of the nation as a whole, not for particular individuals.

John Aylmer-Smith,

Riversleigh Avenue,

Lytham.