n THE outcome of the winding up of Railtrack is that the receivers have sold assets, mostly land and buildings, worth £1.2bn to developers.

From this, shareholders will receive 260p a share. Because of the structure that was set up at privatisation, this money cannot be returned to the Government for investment in the railways.

From the time that Railtrack was set up, the privatised rail industry has received many billions of pounds in public subsidies.

These subsidies enabled Railtrack and the operating companies to "balance" their books and to make "profits" that have resulted in regular dividends to shareholders, again totalling billions since privatisation.

Can anyone tell me how you can justify profits and dividends from a loss-making and failing railway kept afloat by subsidies and desperately in need of investment? It amounts to the Government giving taxpayer's money to

shareholders at the expense of the public who pay for and use the railways and pay taxes.

Arguments that the re-nationalisation of the railways was "too expensive" look very thin when examined in the light of the eventual cost of privatisation to the taxpayer and the dire condition of the system.

This is another example of how "New" Labour has squandered billions on supporting business interests for ideological reasons, having decided that socialist solutions to public services must be avoided. The ideology is capitalist and the policy Tory.

"New" Labour MPs supporting Tory policies are quite simply Tory MPs elected on a false prospectus. It is time they came clean and declared where they stand on these matters.

PETER NIELSEN, Worcester.