Britain's railways are the worst in Europe. Not the judgement of the opposition or long-suffering rail passengers, but of Europe Minister Peter Hain.
Speaking to the Spectator magazine, Mr Hain said: "We have the worst railways in Europe. We started transport investment far too late. It's an intractable problem. We should have been more radical earlier."
The interview was published after a week of rail strikes and while the future of the railways remains uncertain.
His comments put Downing Street on the defensive - the Prime Minister's official spokesman dismissed them as an "opinion" and said there were no statistics available to make a fair comparison.
The Transport Secretary Stephen Byers was more relaxed. "Peter Hain is saying, and I believe this, that we do not have a railway fit for Britain in the 21st century," he said.
Speaking on the Today Programme, former transport minister Gavin Strang called for the railways to be renationalised.
"Well it's certainly true that we're among the worst and everyone recognises the need to put that right," he said.
"The important point is the recognition that our railways are unacceptable, and indeed one thing that's changed in my lifetime. If you go back 20, 30 years, people didn't really see the railways as a growth area and a very important mode of transport.
"The truth is it is the transport mode of the future. If it's a proper system, it's comfortable, it's efficient, it's fast and it's environmentally friendly.
"As far as the structure is concerned ... if the privatised, fragmented structure is not the right one for our railway system then we should renationalise it, and in my own view that's what we should do.
"It's a bold policy, but I think that's what is needed."
Shadow cabinet office minister Tim Collins told us: "It's a pretty devastating admission from one of the Government's own ministers that five years into their term of office they've mishandled things and that the service is as appalling as it is.
"Clearly the problems didn't start in 1997 but most commuters would say to you they've got a lot worse since.
"The issue actually does come back to management competence - you've got to look at the fact that as far as this Government is concerned, whether you look at the foot-and-mouth crisis, the Dome, the rail network or the NHS, we basically have a bunch of bozos. We'd be better off being run by the Keystone Cops.
"Everything they touch turns to dust and until we get rid of them I'm afraid all these services will just carry on getting worse."
Select one of the links below to read one of the Today Programme's archived special reports.
The Today Programme commissioned research from the Strategic Rail Authority - it found that train punctuality on the privatised railway network is worse than in the days of British Rail.
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