Britain’s embattled train operators have promised to deliver an £85bn revolution on the rails in the next 18 months with thousands of new carriages, more convenient ticketing systems and better punctuality, as fears of renationalisation mount.

The industry will today pledge to rely less on taxpayer support by running a day-to-day surplus that will free up cash to be invested in creaking rail infrastructure.

It also plans to recruit 40,000 new staff, spend tens of millions of pounds upgrading stations and create a new independent ombudsman to rule on passenger complaints.

Mark Carne, the Network Rail boss, said: “Over the next 18 months passengers and communities across the country will see a transformation in the services that they receive.

“Thousands of new trains will be introduced as the culmination of years of heavy investment in improving our railway comes to fruition, stimulating the economy by delivering new job and housing opportunities.” Last month, research by polling company Populus and the Legatum Institute think-tank found that 76pc of the public supported rail nationalisation.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has pledged to bring train companies back into public ownership should the party gain power.

The Rail Delivery Group, a consortium comprising Network Rail, the private train operating companies and their suppliers, said its members were investing £54m to improve stations over the next two years.

It added that consumers would be able to use their mobile phones as tickets on seven out of 10 journeys by the end of 2018. Some operators are reportedly set to trial 26-30 railcards later this year, giving cash-strapped “millennials” one third off some fares. The industry will also recruit 40,000 extra workers over the next decade, a Rail Delivery Group spokesman said, including signallers, engineers and drivers to man new services. It will spend £250m per year training workers and create 10,000 apprenticeships for new industry recruits from diverse backgrounds.

The group said £50bn of planned investment by 2020 would deliver £85bn in economic benefits over the next 30 to 60 years.

That is according to a report that the group commissioned by the consultancy Oxera Economics, and would come in addition to the annual £31bn it says the railways are able to generate at the moment.

The £50bn of investment includes £11.6bn on 5,700 new carriages by 2021, £7.7bn of spending on HS2 between 2015-2019 and £6bn of investment in London’s Crossrail. At least £11.6bn of the total would come from the private sector. Twenty years ago the railways ran a £2bn deficit, the Rail Delivery Group said, while they now help to generate a £200m operational surplus.