Ownership of the British railway system has been hotly contested since it was first nationalised by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee in 1948, then reprivatised by Conservative Prime Minister John Major in 1993.
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Yes, there is a body of regulatory rules and procedures governing railroad property use and rates. But this is very different than in Europe. Overall, Europe long ago converted from private railroad companies to nationalized railways (Switzerland might be among the most notable exceptions).
The reasons for this are varied: from the privatisation of the rail industry to the rising cost of infrastructure. The UK does not have fixed rates like other European countries such as France, which can result in flight tickets being cheaper than a regional train journey in the UK.
Seven UK railways are operated or partly-operated by Dutch state railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), including Merseyrail, Scotrail and the West Midlands Railway. Seven railways are operated fully or partly by French state railway SNCF, including Transport for Wales and the Thameslink.
The British Royal Train is used to convey senior members of the British royal family and associated staff of the Royal Household around the railway network of Great Britain. It is owned, maintained and operated by DB Cargo UK.
Before World War One the German railway system was a collection of different companies each serving the particular state that they were in, run autonomously to each other. In 1918 the German Empire fell, and the country became a republic. This lead to the railway system being nationalised.
It was under Thatcher's successor John Major that the railways themselves were privatised, using the Railways Act 1993. The operations of the BRB were broken up and sold off, with various regulatory functions transferred to the newly created office of the Rail Regulator.
The current operator, London Underground Limited (LUL), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in London.