British Rail - British Rail Successor Companies - M

British Rail - M
 
British Rail Successor Companies
 
Under the process of British Rail's privatisation, operations were split into 125 companies between 1994 and 1997. The ownership and operation of the infrastructure of the railway system was taken over by Railtrack. The telecommunications infrastructure and British Rail Telecommunications was sold to Racal, which in turn was sold to Global Crossing and merged with Thales Group.
 
The rolling stock was transferred to three private rolling stock companies (ROSCOs), Angel Trains, Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook. Passenger services were divided into 25 operating companies, which were let on a franchise basis for a set period, whilst freight services were sold off completely. Dozens of smaller engineering and maintenance companies were also created and sold off.
 
British Rail's passenger services came to an end upon the franchising of ScotRail with the last service being a Caledonian Sleeper service from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London on 31 March 1997. The final service it operated was a Railfreight Distribution freight train from Dollands Moor to Wembley on 20 November 1997. The British Railways Board continued in existence as a corporation until early 2001, when it was replaced by the Strategic Rail Authority as part of the implementation of the Transport Act 2000.
 
The original passenger franchisees were:
  • Anglia Railways
  • Arriva Trains Merseyside
  • Arriva Trains Northern
  • Central Trains
  • Chiltern Railways
  • Connex South Central
  • Connex South Eastern
  • c2c
  • First Great Eastern
  • First Great Western
  • First North Western
  • Gatwick Express
  • GNER
  • Island Line
  • Midland Mainline
  • ScotRail
  • Silverlink
  • South West Trains
  • Thames Trains
  • Thameslink
  • Valley Lines
  • Virgin CrossCountry
  • Virgin Trains West Coast
  • WAGN
  • Wales & West
British Rail Future
 
Since privatisation, many groups have campaigned for the renationalisation of UK Rail services, most notably 'Bring Back British Rail'. Various interested parties also have views on the privatisation of British Rail.
 
The renationalisation of the railways of Britain continues to have popular support. Polls in 2012 and 2013 showed 70% and 66% support for renationalisation, respectively.
 
Due to rail franchises sometimes lasting over a decade, full renationalisation would take years unless compensation was paid to terminate contracts early.
When the infrastructure-owning company Railtrack ceased trading in 2002, the Labour government set up the not-for-dividend company Network Rail to take over the duties rather than renationalise this part of the network. However, in September 2014, Network Rail was reclassified as a central government body, adding around £34 billion to public sector net debt. This reclassification had been requested by the Office for Budget Responsibility to comply with pan-European accounting standard ESA10.
 
The Green party has committed to bringing the railways 'back into public ownership' and has maintained this impetus when other parties argued to maintain the status quo. In 2016, Green MP, Caroline Lucas, put forward a Bill that would have seen the rail network fall back into public ownership step by step, as franchises come up for expiry.
 
Under Jeremy Corbyn (2015–2020), the Labour Party pledged to gradually renationalise British Rail franchises if elected, as and when their private contracts expire, creating a "People's Railway". In a pledge during his successful leadership campaign to succeed Corbyn, Keir Starmer said that renationalising rail would remain as Labour Party policy under his leadership.
 
Following the COVID-19 pandemic decimating franchise revenues and making them unviable, in 2021 the government announced it would take back responsibility for the operations of passenger services through Great British Railways with service provision to be contracted to private operators.
 
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
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