National Rail - A

National Rail - A

National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail.

Northern Ireland, which is bordered by the Republic of Ireland, has a different system. National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that generally do not extend to services which were not part of British Rail.

National Rail and Network Rail

National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail. National Rail is a brand used to promote passenger railway services, and providing some harmonisation for passengers in ticketing, while Network Rail is the organisation which owns and manages most of the fixed assets of the railway network, including tracks, stations and signals.

The two generally coincide where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines also carry freight traffic and some lines are freight only. There are some scheduled passenger services on privately managed, non-Network Rail lines, for example Chiltern Railways which runs on both Network Rail track and tracks owned by London Underground.

Although the London Underground uses its own tracks in the majority of its network, it also runs on Network Rail tracks and shares tracks with National Rail services, both on its own tracks and on Network Rail tracks.

National Rail Train Operating Companies (TOCs)

Twenty-five privately owned train operating companies were each franchised for a defined term by government in 1996–97. They operated passenger trains in Great Britain. However, franchises have ceased to exist and are being replaced by operating contracts, which do not involve significant commercial risk for the operators.

The Rail Delivery Group is the trade association representing the TOCs and provides core services, including the provision of the National Rail Enquiries service. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which formerly allocated ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel, which manages travel facilities for railway staff.

It does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail and Road (allocation of paths) and Network Rail (timetable production and publication). Since March 2020 all ticket revenue has been collected by the Department for Transport, which also pays the operators' costs.

National Rail Overview

National Rail Product Type: Public transport

National Rail Owner: Rail Delivery Group

Country United Kingdom

National Rail Introduced: 1999, 24 years ago

National Rail Related Brands:

National Rail Enquiries

British Rail

Network Rail

National Rail Markets: United Kingdom

Rail Holidays
Rail Vacations

Luxury Trains
Luxury Tours

International Trains
International Tours