Privatisation of British Rail

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was in part motivated by the enactment of EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient railway network by creating greater competition.[1]

British Railways (BR) had been in state ownership since 1948, under the control of the British Railways Board (BRB). Under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher elected in 1979, various state-owned businesses were gradually sold off, including various auxiliary and supporting functions related to the railways – Sealink ferries and British Transport Hotels by 1984, Travellers Fare catering by 1988 and British Rail Engineering Limited (train manufacturing) by 1989.

It was under Thatcher's successor

Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). Ownership and operation of rail freight in Great Britain passed to two companies – English Welsh & Scottish (EWS) and Freightliner
, less than the originally intended six, although numerous new entrants in the sector have since appeared.

The privatisation of the railways was very controversial at the time, and still is, and the impact of this policy is hotly debated. Despite opposition from the Labour Party, who gained power in 1997 under Tony Blair, the process has never been reversed wholesale by any later government, and the system has remained largely unaltered. During the late 2010s, it was announced that a transition towards Great British Railways, a contract-based model to replace the franchise system, would be undertaken. A significant change came in 2001 with the collapse of Railtrack, which saw its assets passed to the state-owned Network Rail (NR), while track maintenance was also brought in-house under NR in 2004. The regulatory structures have also been amended subsequently.

Background

Main article: History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994
UK rail journeys per capita from 1840 to 2018,[2][3] showing a steady decline in the decades leading up to privatisation.

To 1979

Historically, the pre-

nationalisation railway companies were almost entirely self-sufficient, including, for example, the production of the steel used in the manufacturing of rolling stock and rails. As a consequence of the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 some of these activities had been hived off to other nationalised industries and institutions, e.g. "Railway Air Services Limited" was one of the forerunners of British Airways; the railways' road transport services, which had carried freight, parcels and passengers' luggage to and from railheads, ultimately became part of the National Freight Corporation, but this transfer did not occur until 1969.[4][5]

A 1950s Mk1-based Class 411 (4-CEP) "slam-door" EMU at London Victoria station, in Network SouthEast livery (March 2003)

The preferred organisational structure in the 1970s was for the BRB to form wholly owned subsidiaries which were run at an arm's-length relationship, e.g. the railway engineering works became British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) in 1970; the ferry operations to Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands were run by Sealink, part of the Sealink consortium, which also used ferries owned by the French national railway SNCF, the Belgian Maritime Transport Authority Regie voor maritiem transport/Regie des transports maritimes (RMT/RTM), and the Dutch Zeeland Steamship Company.[6][7] However, the BRB was still directly responsible for a multitude of other functions, such as the British Transport Police, the British Rail Property Board (which was responsible not just for operational track and property, but also for thousands of miles of abandoned tracks and stations arising from the Beeching cuts and other closure programmes), a staff savings bank, convalescent homes for rail staff, and the internal railway telephone and data comms networks (the largest in the country after British Telecom's), etc.[8]

By 1979, the organisational structure of the BRB's railway operations still largely reflected that of the

Big Four British railway companies
, which had been merged to create British Railways over 30 years previously. There were five Regions (Scotland being a separate region), each region being formed of several Divisions, and each division of several Areas. There was some duplication of resources in this structure, and in the early 1980s, the divisional layer of management was abolished with its work being redistributed either upwards to the regions or downwards to the areas.

1980s

The chain of

Daimler-Benz's train manufacturing interests to form Adtranz in January 1996.[14] Daimler-Benz subsequently took 100% ownership of Adtranz in 1998 before selling it to Bombardier in May 2001.[15][16][17]

For reasons of efficiency and to reduce the amount of subsidy required from the government, British Rail undertook a comprehensive organisational restructuring in the late 1980s. The new management structure was based on business sectors rather than geographical regions, and first manifested itself in 1982 with the creation of Railfreight, the BRB's freight operation, and InterCity, though the Inter-City branding had been carried on coaching stock since the early 1970s.[18][19] Commuter services in the south-east came under the London & South East sector, which would become Network SouthEast in 1986.[20] Services in Scotland were operated by ScotRail, while Provincial sector handled local and rural routes.[21] The regional management structure continued in parallel for a few years before it was abolished. Sectorisation was generally regarded within the industry as a great success, and it was to have a considerable effect on the way in which privatisation would be carried out.

59001 in revised Foster Yeoman livery. Private ownership of locomotives marked the start of a new era in railfreight haulage

During 1985, what may in retrospect be viewed as the harbinger of private rail operation occurred when the quarry company Foster Yeoman bought a small number of extremely powerful 3600 hp locomotives from General Motors' Electro-Motive Diesel division (GM-EMD), designated Class 59, to operate mineral trains from their quarry in Wiltshire.[22][23] Although owned and maintained by Foster Yeoman, the Class 59s were manned by British Rail staff. During acceptance trials, on 16 February 1986, locomotive 59001 hauled a train weighing 4639 tonnes – the heaviest load ever hauled by a single non-articulated traction unit. Foster Yeoman's Class 59s proved to be extremely reliable, and it was not long before quarry company ARC and privatised power generator National Power also bought small numbers of Class 59s to haul their own trains.[24][25]

During 1986, discussions were held with Sea Containers that touched on the business possibilities for the break up of British Rail, particularly on the possible takeover of the railway on the Isle of Wight by he company. However, the discussions proved abortive.[citation needed]

In Sweden, the

bankrupt
. The Swedish experiment was watched with great interest in various other countries during the 1980s and 1990s.

The narrow gauge

Department of Transport started the process of privatising the line. Later that year, it was announced the line had been purchased by the owners of Brecon Mountain Railway, becoming the first part of British Rail to be privatised.[28]

1990s

During 1991, following the partly-successful Swedish example and wishing to create an environment where new rail operators could enter the market, the

EU Directive 91/440.[29]
This required of all EU member states to separate "the management of railway operation and infrastructure from the provision of railway transport services, separation of accounts being compulsory and organisational or institutional separation being optional", the idea being that the track operator would charge the train operator a transparent fee to run its trains over the network, and anyone else could also run trains under the same conditions (open access).

This article is part of
a series about
John Major
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
First Ministry and Term
Second Ministry and Term
Bibliography

John Major's signature

In Britain, Margaret Thatcher was forced out as leader of the Conservative Party and succeeded by John Major at the end of 1990. The Thatcher administration had already sold off nearly all the former state-owned industries, apart from the national rail network. Although the previous Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson had advocated some form of privately or semi-privately operated rail network, this was deemed "a privatisation too far" by Thatcher herself.[30] In its manifesto for the 1992 general election the Conservatives included a commitment to privatise the railways, but were not specific about how this objective was to be achieved.[31] The manifesto claimed that "The best way to produce profound and lasting improvements on the railways is to end BR's state monopoly," although according to The Independent, "many – including within the Tory party – believed that privatisation was merely a mechanism to manage the industry's gradual decline without too heavy a burden on the taxpayer."[32]

Contrary to opinion polls, the Conservatives won the election in April 1992 and consequently had to develop a plan to carry out the privatisation before the Railways Bill was published the next year. The management of British Rail strongly advocated privatisation as one entity, a British Rail plc in effect; Cabinet Minister John Redwood "argued for regional companies in charge of track and trains" but Prime Minister John Major did not back his view;[33] the Treasury, under the influence of the Adam Smith Institute think tank advocated the creation of seven, later 25, passenger railway franchises as a way of maximising revenue. In this instance, it was the Treasury view that prevailed.

Legislation

Main article: Railways Act 1993

As a precursor to the main legislation, the British Coal and British Rail (Transfer Proposals) Act 1993 was passed on 19 January 1993. This legislation gave the Secretary of State the power to issue directions to the BRB to sell assets, something which the board was unable to do until then.

The Railways Bill, published in 1993,

Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF), then its successor the Strategic Rail Authority and now with the Secretary of State for Transport
.

The passage of the Railways Bill was controversial. The public was largely unconvinced of the virtues of rail privatisation and there was much lobbying against the Bill. The

poll tax on wheels";[35] however Adley was known to be a rail enthusiast and his advice was discounted. Adley died suddenly before the Bill completed its passage through Parliament.[36]

The Railways Bill became the Railways Act 1993 on 5 November 1993, and the organisational structure dictated by it came into effect on 1 April 1994. Initially, British Rail was broken up into various units frequently based on its own organisational sectors (Train Operating Units, Infrastructure Maintenance Units, etc. - for more details see below) still controlled by the British Railways Board, but which were sold over the next few years.

Domestic system

As implemented

The original privatisation structure, created over the three years from 1 April 1994, consisted of passing ownership and operation of the railway to a variety of private companies, regulated by two public offices,

subcontract work to various other companies to perform maintenance.[37] Various other companies would lease and/or operate trains.[38][39]

In preparation for full privatisation, BR was split up into various parts. Provision of passenger services was split up into twenty-five passenger train operating units (TOUs),[40] known as shadow franchises, split by geographical area and service type. For freight services, six freight operating companies (FOCs) were created - three geographical units for trainload freight (Mainline Freight in the south-east, Loadhaul in the north-east and Transrail in the west[41]), plus Railfreight Distribution for international and wagonload trains, Freightliner for container-carrying trains, and Rail Express Systems for parcels and mail trains. British Rail Infrastructure Services (BRIS) took responsibility for the engineering requirements of the railway.[42] BRIS was subsequently organised for privatisation on the basis of seven infrastructure maintenance units (IMUs), which maintained the railway, and six track renewal units (TRUs), which replaced rail lines, both organised geographically.

Railtrack was the first company created; it took over ownership of all track, signalling and stations.

stations and depots; additional funding would come from the British government. The company would spend its finances mostly on the railway network in accordance with plans laid out by the rail regulator.[45][37]

Three newly created rolling stock leasing companies (ROSCOs) (Angel Trains, Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook) were allocated all British Rail's passenger coaches, locomotives, and multiple units.[46][47][48] Completion of the privatisation process involved converting the passenger TOUs to train operating companies (TOCs) through the process of franchising, performed in the first instance on a "lowest-cost bidder wins" basis. Freight locomotives and wagons were not passed to ROSCOs, instead being owned directly by the freight train operators. Full privatisation of the freight operators saw five being bought immediately and merged into what became known as the English Welsh & Scottish (EWS) (now DB Cargo UK),[49][50][51] leaving just Freightliner as the only other ex-BR freight business to be privatised to someone other than EWS.[52]

The Rail Regulator (the statutory officer at the head of the

Health & Safety Executive. The first Rail Regulator was John Swift.[53][54]

The Director of Passenger Rail Franchising took responsibility for organising the franchising process to transfer the 25 TOUs to the private sector and then develop the re-franchising programme for the future. The first Director of Passenger Rail Franchising was Roger Salmon.[55]

Subsequent changes

Main article: History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date
See also: List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom

Post-privatisation, the structure of the railways has remained largely the same, and the system is still based on competition between private operators who pay for access to the infrastructure provider and lease rolling stock from the ROSCOs.

A major change has been in the actual owner of the infrastructure. The aftermath of the Hatfield rail crash in 2000 led to severe financial difficulties for Railtrack.[56][57][58] Just under a year later, the company was put into a special kind of insolvency by the High Court in England at the direction of the government.[59][60] The circumstances of this action were controversial, and eventually led to the largest class action lawsuit in British legal history.[61][62] The administration led to instability in its share price, and on 2 October 2002 a new organisation, Network Rail, bought Railtrack.[63][64] Network Rail has no shareholders and is a company limited by guarantee, nominally in the private sector but with members instead of shareholders and its borrowing guaranteed by the government. During 2004, Network Rail took back direct control of the maintenance of the track, signalling and overhead lines, although track renewal remained contracted out to the private sector.[65][66]

Management of the passenger franchising system has also changed; during 2001, the functions of the

community railway designation to loosen the regulations and lower the costs and increase usage of certain socially necessary routes and services, although these remain within the TOC structure.[citation needed
]

In both the freight and passenger sectors, a small number of

spot-hire companies offering short-term leases,[83][84] as well as small-scale train owners offering to lease their private rolling stock. Furthermore, some operators, such as Network Rail
, have also purchased some rolling stock themselves.

The regulatory structure has also evolved; in line with changes to the regulation of other privatised industries, the position of

Health & Safety Executive.[85]

Channel Tunnel infrastructure and services

Privatisation of British Rail occurred at the same time as the

Channel Tunnel Rail Link
(CTRL), to link the tunnel to London.

With the CTRL still at the planning stage, Eurostar trains began operating on 14 November 1994 over the existing railway, with operations on the British sections of the track being done by European Passenger Services (EPS), a subsidiary set up by British Rail. To manage construction of the CTRL, British Rail had also set up another subsidiary, Union Railways. In 1996, in line with the rest of the privatisation process, the government signed a contract with the private company

London & Continental Railways
(LCR) to build the CTRL, and as part of that deal LCR became the owner of both EPS and Union Railways; LCR renamed EPS as Eurostar thus ending British Rail's input in the project.

As the project progressed, due to financial difficulties both LCR and its subsidiaries underwent various changes in financing, structure and planning, with the government and Railtrack (later Network Rail) becoming involved in the various plans and projects. In 2007, the second stage of the CTRL was finally completed (the CTRL being rebranded at that point as High Speed 1 (HS1). By 2009 the government had assumed full control of LCR, announcing its intention to privatise it to recoup its investment; this was achieved in two stages, with the 2010 sale of a 30-year concession to own and operate HS1, and the 2015 sale of the British stake in the Eurostar operator (renamed in 2009 to Eurostar International Limited, EIL).

Through a subsidiary established in 2003, Network Rail is the maintainer of the infrastructure of HS1. Domestic passenger services are operated on parts of HS1 as part of the Integrated Kent Franchise, these commenced in 2009, operated by Southeastern.

Impact

Rail passengers in Great Britain from 1829–2021
GB rail subsidy 1985–2019 in 2018 prices, showing a short decline after privatisation, followed by a steep rise following the Hatfield crash in 2000 then a further increase to fund Crossrail and HS2
Main article: Impact of the privatisation of British Rail

The impact of privatisation has been debated by the public, media and the rail industry ever since the process was completed. Whether to renationalise or otherwise make major changes to the post-privatisation model is an ever-present detail in the election manifestos of British political parties.[86]

Stated benefits of privatisation include improved customer service, and more investment; and stated drawbacks include higher fares, lower punctuality and increased rail subsidies.

The major topics of debate concern whether the process has achieved its central aims of increasing levels of investment, performance, and customer satisfaction while reducing the cost to the taxpayer through rail subsidies. Safety also became a major issue after the Hatfield rail crash in 2000 and the Potters Bar rail crash in 2002 exposed flaws in the post-privatisation maintenance regimes.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. JSTOR 23289642
    . Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  2. ^ ATOC's 2008 publication Billion Passenger Railway
  3. ^ "United Kingdom population mid-year estimate". Office for National Statistics.
  4. ^ "National Freight Corporation". Commercial Motor. 3 January 1969. p. 3.
  5. ^ "Now the National Freight Federation". Commercial Motor. 7 March 1969. p. 46.
  6. ^ "British Rail Engineering Limited formed". Railway Gazette. 5 December 1969. p. 882.
  7. ^ "Sealink title for BR and alliped shipping services". Railway Gazette. 21 November 1969. p. 843.
  8. ^ "Department details ― British Railways Board". National Digital Archive of Datasets. The National Archives. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  9. ^ "Intelligence". Railway Gazette International. No. September 1984. p. 662.
  10. ^ "Travellers Fare sold". The Railway Magazine. No. 1055. March 1989. p. 144.
  11. ^ "BREL divided". The Railway Magazine. No. 1034. June 1987. p. 390.
  12. ^ "Buyer for BREL". The Railway Magazine. No. 1055. March 1989. p. 143.
  13. ^ "In Brief". Railway Gazette International. No. May 1989. p. 287.
  14. ^ "ABB to control BREL". The Railway Magazine. No. 1093. May 1992. p. 7.
  15. Rail Magazine
    . No. 350. 10 February 1999. p. 12.
  16. Rail Magazine
    . No. 390. 23 August 2000. p. 7.
  17. ^ "For Adtranz read Bombardier". The Railway Magazine. No. 1203. July 2001. p. 10.
  18. ISSN 1362-234X
    .
  19. ^ "The fall and rise of Britain's railways". Rail Staff News. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  20. ISBN 9780860934943. [page needed
    ]
  21. ISBN 0-7153-8870-3. [page needed
    ]
  22. ISBN 0-7106-0452-1
    .
  23. ISSN 1756-8188
    .
  24. ^ "The Track Record of Heavy Haul Power EMD General Motors Locomotives over Ten Years". Erfurt: Heavy Haul Power International. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  25. ISBN 978-1-91220-598-1
    .
  26. ^ a b "SJ prepares to defend its market share". globalrailwayreview.com. 23 August 2005.
  27. ISBN 0-906867-43-6
    .
  28. ^ Boyd-Hope, Gary (January 2009). "Rheidol revival: 20 years of private enterprise". Steam Railway. 358: 91–95.
  29. ^ "Rail Transport and Interoperability (overview of directive 91/440)". European Union. Archived from the original on 18 June 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  30. ^ Coleman, Paul (October 2005). "Anyone seen the invisible hand?" (PDF). Rail Professional. Rail Professional Ltd. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  31. ^ "The Best Future for Britain: 1992 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto". Conservative Party. 1992. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  32. ^ "Britain's railways are doing well despite privatisation". The Independent. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  33. ^ "The train cannot always take the strain". johnredwoodsdiary.com. 29 June 2011.
  34. ^ Her Majesty's Government (1903). "Railways Act 1993". The Railways Archive. (originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office). Retrieved 26 November 2006.
  35. ^ "After Railtrack, what next for PPP?". BBC Online. 14 October 2001. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  36. ^ "Robert Adley; Obituary". The Times. 14 May 1993.
  37. ^ a b c Butcher, Louise (24 March 2010). "Railways: Railtrack, 1994–2002" (PDF). parliament.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  38. S2CID 144684740. Archived
    from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  39. ^ "The great train sell-off: Who dunnit?". BBC News. 20 October 2000. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  40. ^ Butcher, Louise (18 March 2010). "Railways: privatisation, 1987-1996" (PDF). House of Commons Library.
  41. ^ Stephen, Paul (2 March 2016). "The crash that began Railtrack's demise". railmagazine.com.
  42. Rail Magazine
    . No. 221. 2 March 1994. p. 13.
  43. ^ "Railtrack Group PLC". sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  44. ^ Clement, Barrie (8 September 1994). "The Rail Dispute: Railtrack chief gives 'no surrender' message: Horton in uncompromising mood as union clashes with BR over the number of trains running". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  45. ^ Christian, Wolmar (16 July 2005). "Forget Byers: the scandal was in the original sell-off: Railtrack was heading for disaster long before the Hatfield crash". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  46. ^ Butcher, Louise (15 June 2017). "Railway rolling stock (trains)" (PDF). House of Commons Library.
  47. ^ "ROSCOs sold for £1,699.5m". Rail Privatisation News. No. 18. 16 November 1995. p. 16.
  48. Rail Magazine
    . No. 266. 22 November 1995. p. 6.
  49. ^ "BR freight is finally sold to Burkhardt". Rail. No. 274. 13 March 1996. p. 6.
  50. ^ "The end of rail freight as we know it". The Railway Magazine. No. 1140. April 1996. p. 7.
  51. ^ "Wisconsin Central decides: It's the English, Welsh & Scottish Railway". The Railway Magazine. No. 1142. June 1996. p. 8.
  52. ^ "Freightliner's 50 years". Railways Archive. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  53. ISBN 978-0-19-876391-8
    .
  54. ISBN 978-0-275-97601-9
    .
  55. ^ Poole, Fiona (8 August 1996). "Rail Passenger Franchises" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  56. ^ Cobain, Ian; Harvey, Michael; Bird, Steve (18 October 2000). "Four killed and 33 hurt: mechanical failure blamed". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  57. ^ Tran, Mark; Left, Sarah; Pank, Philip (27 June 2002). "Timeline: Railtrack". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  58. ^ "Hatfield crash "was disaster waiting to happen"". The Daily Telegraph. 31 January 2005. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  59. ^ "Railtrack goes bankrupt with debts of £3.3bn". The Independent. 8 October 2001. Archived from the original on 12 March 2011.
  60. ^ "Rail 420: Why Railtrack's fall was a revolution waiting to happen". christianwolmar.co.uk. 17 October 2001. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  61. ^ "Byers to answer charge that he misled Railtrack's shareholders". The Daily Telegraph. 25 June 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  62. ^ Milner, Mark (15 October 2005). "Railtrack shareholders lose court battle for compensation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  63. ^ "Network Rail closer to Railtrack takeover". BBC News. 18 September 2002. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  64. S2CID 154910139
    .
  65. ^ "UK brings infrastructure maintenance back in-house". Archived from the original on 26 October 2016.
  66. ^ "Network Rail Announces Track Renewal Changes". News Releases. 11 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
  67. ^ "The Railways (Abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority) Order 2006". Legislation of the Government of the United Kingdom. 2006.
  68. ^ "Train firm loses franchise". BBC News. 27 June 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  69. ^ "The InterCity East Coast Passenger Rail Franchise" (PDF). Department for Transport. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  70. ^ "Short-term Intercity East Coast train operator 2018 options report" (PDF). May 2018. p. 20 (numbered 16). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  71. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  72. ^ "Wales & Borders rail franchise taken into public ownership". Railway Gazette International. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  73. ^ "Service Contract South Eastern" (PDF). Department for Transport. 16 October 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  74. ^ "Scotland's train services nationalised from 1 April". BBC News. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  75. ^ "Transpennine Express to be brought into operator of last resort". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  76. ^ "Caledonian Sleeper to be delivered by the Scottish Government". Transport Scotland. 2 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  77. ^ "Wrexham-Shropshire-London direct rail link to end". BBC News Online. London. 26 January 2011.
  78. Rail Express
    . No. 41. October 1999. p. 7.
  79. National Geographic UK. London: Disney Publishing Worldwide
    .
  80. ^ "New leasing company launched". International Railway Journal. February 2009. p. 7.
  81. ^ "Macquarie Group acquires portfolio of rail assets from Lloyds Banking Group". Macquarie Group. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020.
  82. ^ "Rock Rail signs first rolling stock financing deal". Railway Gazette International. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016.
  83. ^ "UK Rail Leasing's in-demand 56s set for overhauls". Rail. No. 739. 8 January 2014. p. 12.
  84. ^ Clinnick, Richard (9 October 2019). "FROM THE ARCHIVES: Operations, options and opportunities". railmagazine.com.
  85. ^ "Our functions". Office of Rail and Road. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  86. ^ "Rail Privatisation in UK - Economics Help". Economics Help. Retrieved 7 January 2019.

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privatisation_of_British_Rail&oldid=1217343721"