British Rail - British Rail Transport Act 1968 - C

British Rail - C

British Rail Transport Act 1968

Following the election of Labour in 1964, on a platform of revising many of the cuts, Tom Fraser instead authorised the closure 1,071 mi of railway lines, following the recommendations from the Beeching Report even lines not considered closing. After he resigned in 1967, his replacement Barbara Castle continued the line and station closures but introduced the first Government rail subsidies for socially necessary but unprofitable railways in the Transport Act 1968.

Part of these provisions was the creation of a passenger transport executive or PTE within larger metropolitan areas. Prior to this, public transport was run by individual local authorities and private companies, with little co-ordination. The PTEs took over the responsibility (but not ownership) of managing local rail networks.

The 1968 Act created five new bodies. These were:

West Midlands PTE on 1 October 1969.
SELNEC PTE (South East Lancashire & North East Cheshire) on 1 November 1969 (now Greater Manchester).
Merseyside PTE on 1 December 1969 (now Liverpool City Region).
Tyneside PTE on 1 January 1970 (now Tyne and Wear).
Greater Glasgow PTE on 1 June 1973 (now Strathclyde).

This was the first real subdivision of BR since its inception in 1949, and likely saved many lines earmarked for closure, notably the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway, which now forms part of the Merseyrail network.

British Rail Sectorisation

Upon sectorisation in 1982, three passenger sectors were created: InterCity, operating principal express services, London & South East (renamed Network SouthEast in 1986) operating commuter services in the London area, Provincial (renamed Regional Railways in 1989) responsible for all other passenger services.

In the metropolitan counties local services were managed by the Passenger Transport Executives.

Provincial was the most subsidised (per passenger km) of the three sectors, upon formation, its costs were four times its revenue. During the 1980s British Rail ran the Rail Riders membership club aimed at 5- to 15-year-olds.

Because British Railways was such a large operation, running not just railways but also ferries, steamships and hotels, it has been considered difficult to analyse the effects of nationalisation.

Prices rose quickly in this period, rising 108% in real terms from 1979 to 1994, as prices rose by 262% but RPI only increased by 154% in the same time.

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