Holes in the road theory

There is an interesting letter in the Glasgow Herald today from Thomas Inglis. He refers to the likely cause of the Potters Bar train crash as being poor maintenance.

Mr. Inglis then goes on to write about poor maintenance of our roads.

The lack of maintenance over the past decade has, because of the potholes, temporary road surfaces, soft verges, crumbling bridges and culverts, lack of white lines, missing road signs, choked gullies and drains, left the roads in such a state that they present a hazard to all road users.

All very true. But all the usual suspects are telling us that poor railway maintenance is the result of privatisation of the track. And the roads are owned by? …..oops, the state.