British Rail - British Rail Privatisation - H

British Rail - H

British Rail Privatisation

In 1989, the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway was preserved, becoming the first part of British Rail to be privatised. Between 1994 and 1997, British Rail was privatised. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994. Passenger operations were later franchised to 25 private-sector operators. Of the six freight companies, five were sold to Wisconsin Central to form EWS while Freightliner was sold in a management buyout.

The Waterloo & City line, part of Network SouthEast, was not included in the privatisation and was transferred to London Underground in April 1994. The remaining obligations of British Rail were transferred to BRB (Residuary) Limited.

The privatisation, proposed by the Conservative government in 1992, was opposed by the Labour Party and the rail unions. Although Labour initially proposed to reverse privatisation, the New Labour manifesto of 1997 instead opposed Conservative plans to privatise the London Underground.

Rail unions have historically opposed privatisation, but former Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen general secretary Lew Adams moved to work for Virgin Rail Group, and said on a 2004 radio phone-in programme: "All the time it was in the public sector, all we got were cuts, cuts, cuts. And today, there are more members in the trade union, more train drivers, and more trains running. The reality is that it worked, we’ve protected jobs, and we got more jobs."

The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 shadow franchises - these were publicly owned TOCs operating in the planned franchise areas prior to the actual franchises being put to tender:

Initial Train Operating Companies Post-Privatisation

InterCity Network SouthEast Regional Railways
Virgin CrossCountry Chiltern Lines Anglia Railways
Great North Eastern Railway Island Line Cardiff Railway Company
Gatwick Express LTS Rail Central Trains
Anglia Railways North London Railways Mersey Rail Electrics
Great Western Trains Network SouthCentral North West Regional Railways
Midland Mainline SouthEastern Regional Railways North East
Virgin Trains South Western Railway ScotRail
Caledonian Sleeper Thameslink South Wales & West Railway
Thames Trains West Anglia Great Northern

The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels.

British Rail Overview

British Rail Type: State-owned enterprise

British Rail Industry: Railway transport, logistics, shipping, and manufacturing of rolling stock

British Rail Predecessor:

Great Western Railway

London, Midland & Scottish Railway

London & North Eastern Railway

Southern Railway

British Rail Founded: 1 January 1948

British Rail Defunct: 20 November 1997

British Rail Fate: Privatised

British Rail Successor:

National Rail

Train Operating Franchises:

Railtrack

EWS

Freightliner

British Rail Headquarters: London, England

British Rail Area Served: Great Britain

British Rail Key People: Alastair Morton

(Final Chairman of the British Railways Board)

British Rail Products: Rail transport, cargo transport, services

British Rail Owner: Government of the United Kingdom

British Rail Parent:

1948–1962:

British Transport Commission

1962–1997:

British Railways Board

British Rail Divisions:

From 1948:

Eastern Region

London Midland Region

North Eastern Region

Scottish Region

Southern Region

Western Region

British Rail Research Division

Collection & Delivery

Freightliner

Motorail

Night Star Parcels

Speedlink

Rail Express Parcels

Red Star Parcels

From 1982:

InterCity

Network SouthEast

Railfreight

Railfreight Distribution

Rail Express Systems

Regional Railways

Trainload Freight

British Rail Subsidiaries:

British Rail Engineering Ltd

British Transport Hotels

European Passenger Services

Sealink

Seaspeed

Travellers Fare

Rail Holidays
Rail Vacations

Luxury Trains
Luxury Tours

International Trains
International Tours