The first is certainly a problem: an analogy is probably health and social care, which we as a country think are very important. Unfortunately we don't seem to want to pay the level of taxation which would ensure that they can be provided well, and the same is true of the railway, though in fares (as I don't believe in state subsidy). That said, a business does well to look at reducing costs before increasing prices as the former is less likely to alienate customers. So providing money for improvements isn't necessarily about higher fares.
As for the second, it's not about planning for growth as it's obvious that the railway can't cope with the existing requirements. First it would have to provide sufficient capacity or efficiency improvements for the present usage.
As I write this, in the height of the afternoon peak, I've been looking at opentraintimes and realtimetrains. In the 10km of track in the down direction between CLJ and RMD there are currently two trains, and there are three trains in the 15km from RMD to SNS. I find it hard to believe that 25km of track can accommodate only five trains.
In the meantime, there are trains currently at platforms at Waterloo which aren't due to depart for twenty minutes. This is about fifteen wasted minutes which could be used to start moving customers homeward meaning, once the schedule following has been adjusted accordingly, that the customers starting at Waterloo later would arrive home earlier and be more likely to have a pleasant journey, including a seat.
Much as I dislike his disdain for the people who pay his salary, I think that what the rail industry needs is a Michael O'Leary. If you can turn around a B737 in twenty-five minutes, including refuelling, I'm sure that a class 450, which doesn't require refuelling, doesn't need to stand at a Waterloo platform for twenty minutes. Like a plane, a train at a terminus isn't making money.
It's all about efficiency, and the railways aren't. Instead they're bound to an historic past which restricts progress and improvement which would be to the benefit of the customers.
In discussions like this I'm always reminded of the words of Henry Ford: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."