The problem lies with the concept of the word 'service' - as in, for example, National Health Service.
If you want to offer a service, then you have to put the provision of the service first, the costs second, and the notion of profit last, and least.
If you want to run a business, you put the notion of profit first, the cost second, and the provision of service last.
The issue occurs when you try to use the model of the second to run the first, because, not surprisingly, it falls apart very quickly.
Unfortunately, the concept of market forces has been, and continues to be, a cornerstone of Tory government thinking.
Their erroneous belief is that if you apply business practices to public services, you increase efficiency.
Time and again, this is proved to be wrong - because the concept is flawed, and no amount of re-trying makes it workable.
The bottom line is … the bottom line.
If you bring in a profit basis as the bedrock of the organisation, you instantly narrow the focus of every single manager in the organisation from the bottom to the top - think about the money.
They become tunnel-visioned, with their sights purely and entirely on saving money - often because, in the case of a company like Network Rail, saving money brings financial reward in the form of a bonus structure for managers, which leads them to look to cut costs at any and every opportunity.
And the biggest and easiest ways to cut costs is to trim the wage bill - employees being the most expensive aspect of any company.
And here we are - an organisation which should provide a service is being run as a company, and the result, predictably, is as outlined above - a shortage of staff, and a failing service.
And it is a service, and as such, should be run like one.