YOU don't have to be clairvoyant to predict that how we run our railways is going to be an important subject in this General Election year.

A YouGov poll last year showed that 66 per cent of the members of the public the organisation polled would support a re-nationalisation of the railways.

When was the last time this country agreed on something so whole-heartedly? This sceptered isle, riven by factional politics and governed by a coalition precisely because there was not one clear winner at the ballot box.

When was the last time we agreed on anything with a 66 per cent vote in favour?

I suspect if that poll was re-taken on the day after fares increased by 2.2 per cent on average last week, following post-Christmas misery thanks to overrunning engineering work, that figure would be much, much higher.

In a country which is struggling to achieve any kind of consensus on many issues, the poll result is remarkable.

Wage increases at or above the rate of inflation have been rarer than hen's teeth in recent years.

Yet our power bills and the amount we have to fork out on public transport to get to our jobs continues to rise. Our disposable incomes are squeezed.

And the idea of a 'joined-up' national public transport network has, it seems, withered on the vine.

So I shall be watching with interest the progress in Parliament of Caroline Lucas' bill for a public railway. It gets its second reading in Parliament on Friday.

It calls for Britain’s rail franchises to be brought back into public ownership as they either fail or their contracts expire.

Green MP Lucas argues that the Rebuilding Rail report, published by Transport for Quality of Life, conservatively estimates that around £1.2bn is lost each year as a result of fragmentation and privatisation.

“This is money which could, and should, be reinvested to improve our services and reduce fares,” Lucas says.

She says private rail companies remain dependent upon public subsidies to run their services - and the companies can then turn over up to an estimated 90 per cent of their operating profits to shareholders.

She criticises the “blatant transfer of public money to private shareholders”, adding that “the public purse is propping up a failing rail system for private gain. UK railways would be £1 billion better off in public hands.”

Despite that 66 per cent poll, re-nationalisation has not grabbed the imagination of the larger parties. They seem curiously out of step with the public.

Labour has stopped short of endorsing a move towards re-nationalisation.

Its policy includes a review into the UK and Scottish Government’s franchising process, and would mean that UK Parliament would legislate so that public sector companies can bid for rail franchises.

And the Prime Minister David Cameron said this on the day of the fare increase: "We've made sure that rail fares cannot go up by more than inflation.

"So the rail fare increase this year, as last year, is linked to inflation, and I think that's right.

"In previous years it's gone up by more than inflation. But, of course, what you're seeing on our railways is a £38 billion investment project.

"And that money is coming, of course, from taxpayers, from the Government, and from fare payers as well."

He said Britain was seeing "the biggest investment in our roads since the 1970s, but in our railways since Victorian times".

Mr Cameron went on: "And it's very important that we continue that investment because it's an absolutely key part to our long-term economic plan, which is about staying on the road to a stronger economy which you can only have if you have the infrastructure that a stronger economy needs."

So, Mr Cameron somewhat proves Ms Lucas' point.

He admits the investment in the railways is coming from the public purse and from fare payers.

From you and me.

We're paying twice for that investment, in our taxes and in our rail fares.

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group representing rail operators and Network Rail, says: "At 2.2 per cent, the average increase in fares in 2015 is the lowest for five years.

"We understand no one likes to pay more, especially to go to work. For every £1 spent on fares, 97p goes on track, train, staff and other costs while 3p goes in profits earned by train companies for running services on Europe's fastest-growing railway."

Private companies have one driving force above all others - to service their shareholders and pay them dividends.

It's how the market works.

Their primary driving force will never be the long-term future of the railways in this country.

To expect anything different would be naive.

Silly me. I thought planning for our country's future is why we have governments.