Fair comment; although of course China's system is completely state-owned & until now the penetration of private car ownership has been much lower, so in its current social configuration it may not be entirely comparable.... and given the growth of car ownership in China, its high level of rail usage may decline (as with more developed economies).

Railways might not be social media, but wanting to monitor and influence every aspect of our lives while controlling, say, all the doors in all the buildings and every advertising hoarding... How could it possibly go wrong?

The Japanese corporate sector has a very different relation to the state, so yes in the UK's political circumstances that might be less advantageous than in Japan... (but we might also suggest, railways are not social media?)

Very interesting but I'm not convinced allowing mega corporations to own and control more of people's lives is necessarily better than state subsidies. Imagine techbros being given that opportunity. To coin the Tony Benn phrase, how can I get rid of you?