The Sad State of British Railways
The Rise and Fall of Railtrack, 1992–2002
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10249186 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philip S Bagwell (Transnational Press London, corresponding author), Philip Bagwell (London) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 111-124 |
| Publication date | 2004-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Transport History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5266 • E-ISSN: 1759-3999 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.7227/tjth.25.2.6 |
| OpenAlex | W2014610296 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This article reviews the rise and fall of Railtrack, in existence between 1992 and 2002. The railway infrastructure company, Railtrack, was first envisaged by the Conservative government of British prime minister John Major in July 1992 and became law in November 1993. The demise of Railtrack came in two stages: first, Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Transport, announced to the Commons in October 2001 that he had put Railtrack into administration, to be replaced by a not-for-profit trust; and second, in October 2002, the not-for-profit organization, called Network Rail, owning for the government most of the permanent way, signals, and stations of the railway system, was created. The author concludes that the attempt to privatize railway services by splitting the ownership of the track and infrastructure from train operations has been a complete failure. It led to an increase in bureaucracy, confusion on the part of both management and workers as to who was in charge of what, and a sharp decline of train service punctuality on many routes. The author maintains that the whole railway system should be placed under public ownership and control
Forensic engineering · State (computer science · Transport engineering · Computer Science · Engineering · History · Transport and Economic Policies
| Citations per year | 0.19 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2010 - 2016 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |