As reports emerged of talks between NR and Scottish Labour leaders over the possibility of the government-underwritten company taking over Scotrail operations, RMT renewed its call for a moratorium on the failed private-franchise system.

"We have argued from the start that fragmentation was the fundamental fault-line opened up by rail privatisation, and re-uniting track and train under Network Rail makes sound sense," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"For the first time in a decade it would bring train and track back under a single, directly accountable body with a single command structure, and could provide the blueprint for ending the nightmare of rail privatisation once and for all.

"It would also mean that the huge subsidies going into rail operations would be spent on improving services rather than on lining shareholders' pockets.

"Bringing the industry back together again will make it clear exactly who is responsible and will end the ugly spectacle of legal buck-passing in the aftermath of the disasters that privatisation has brought about.

"Public money should no longer be wasted on a franchise system that is descredited, inefficient, costly and dangerous, and it is time to bring the failed experiment to an end," Bob Crow said