PENDOLINO PULCHRITUDE. Professor Althouse embedded a Virgin Trains commercial.

The comments suggest Britain's privatization and fragmentation have something going for them. Up to a point, yes. The rolling stock sometimes stays with the current franchise holder, and sometimes it gets repainted, at great expense. The operating companies aren't free of subsidy, either. I don't know if the Inter-City services receive any subsidies, but there are several Passenger Transport Executives (British for Regional Transportation Authority) that purchase service from one of the several less-well-known operators that maintain stables of railbuses.