Investment is vital for all businesses.
Economists often argue that investment is current consumption that has been given up.
In other words there is an opportunity cost to investment. We have to consume less now to be able to invest and then consume more in the future. However, the railways have been starved of investment while under public ownership. There is little doubt that far too little was invested in the railways by governments who were all trying to keep government expenditure under control. Reducing capital expenditure was always a much easier solution than trying to reduce current expenditure.