page_title: British Rail
section_title: Privatisation
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail / Finances / Privatisation
caption_attribution_description: English: UK total rail subsidies 1986-2015 in millions of pounds&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: British Railways, which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board.
  The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the national railway network. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotion had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway. Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one third of the network was closed by the Beeching Axe of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies.
  On privatisation, responsibility for track, signalling and stations was transferred to Railtrack and that for trains to the train operating companies.
context_section_description: In 1989, the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway was preserved, becoming the first part of British Rail to be privatised.
  Between 1994 and 1997, British Rail was privatised. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994. Passenger operations were later franchised to 25 private-sector operators and the freight services were sold to six companies, five of whom were owned by the same buyer.
  The Waterloo & City line, part of BR Network SouthEast, was not included in the privatisation and was transferred to London Underground in April 1994. The remaining obligations of British Rail were transferred to BRB (Residuary) Limited.
  The privatisation, proposed by the Conservative government in 1992, was opposed by the Labour Party and the rail unions. Although Labour initially proposed to reverse privatisation, the New Labour manifesto of 1997 instead opposed Conservative plans to privatise the London Underground. Rail unions have historically opposed privatisation, but former Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen general secretary Lew Adams moved to work for Virgin Trains, and said on a 2004 radio phone-in programme: "All the time it was in the public sector, all we got were cuts, cuts, cuts. And today there are more members in the trade union, more train drivers, and more trains running. The reality is that it worked, we’ve protected jobs, and we got more jobs."
caption: UK rail subsidy 1985–2015 (in 2015 terms), showing the huge increase after the Hatfield crash
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