| General |
Introduction
The British Railways Board
was established by the Transport Act 1962, as a successor to the
British Transport Commission. The Board consisted of a Chairman and
between nine and fifteen other members with experience in
transport, industrial, commercial or financial matters. The
Chairman of the Board is appointed by the Secretary of State for
Transport, and the other members are appointed by the Secretary of
State after consultation with the Chairman. The BRB now functions
as a residuary body since the majority of its functions passed to
the Strategic Rail Authority
following the passing of the Transport Act 2000.
The Railways 1921-1961
In 1921 the railway system of the United Kingdom was
restructured for the first time by public legislation. The 1921
Railway Act enabled 123 private railways to be merged into four new
groups, known collectively as the 'Big Four':
- The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)
- The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER)
- The Great Western Railway (GWR)
- The Southern Railway (SR)
The new arrangements brought a greater degree of unity to the
network and made life easier for the traveller. During the Second
World War the British government took control of the nation's
railways, since the Minister of War Transport's first priority was
to assist the war effort, namely by the transportation of men,
materials and equipment. Both passenger and freight trains still
ran during this period, and attempts were made to provide as normal
a service as possible to members of the public.
British Transport Commission
The Labour government, elected in 1945, had a clear agenda to nationalise
many of the principal industries of the nation. Under the 1947 Transport
Act the railways and most other major transport operations (long distance
road haulage, etc.) became part of the state-owned British Transport Commission
(BTC). It was notorious that the railway industry had been in economic
difficulty since the First World War, 1 mainly due to problems encountered throughout the war years, poor rolling stock, shortages of raw materials and coal,2
which all greatly affected the industry's profitability. The BTC was responsible
to the Ministry of Transport for general transport policy, which it implemented
principally through financial control of Executives set up to manage specified
sections of the industry under schemes of delegation. These Executives
were:
- Docks and Inland Waterways Executive
- Hotels Executive
- London Transport Executive
- Railway Executive
- Road Haulage Executive
- Road Passenger Executive
The Railway Executive became responsible for the management and operation
of the railways and their associated undertakings. Despite restructuring,
the British Transport Commission proved to be unsuccessful, "far from having
co-ordinated the various modes of transport under its control, the British
Transport Commission was finally adjudged incapable of managing its major
constituents, British Railways.3 Rather ironically, it is suggested that the other Executives performed far better than the British Railways. At the beginning of the 1950s, British Railways were only just able to provide a surplus of revenue over working expenses before meeting interest and other charges. However, by 1960 performance had fallen to an all time low, to the extent of a working deficit of £67.7m. The following year saw greater deterioration, with the deficit running
at £87m, and reaching rock bottom in 1962 with the deficit at £104m,
resulting in the British Transport Commission's total loss of £143.6m. 4Given the growing concern over the British Transport Commission, a White Paper, published in 1960 and entitled "Reorganisation of the Nationalised Transport Undertakings,"5 summarised that the activities of the British Transport Commission were so large and diverse that it was virtually impossible to run them effectively as a single undertaking. Furthermore the White Paper went on to say that the government had decided to replace the BTC's organisation by a new structure, designed to counteract the main problems of the present rganisation. As proposed in the White Paper, the British Transport Commission was abolished under the 1962 Transport Act, and saw the establishment of five new public authorities:
- British Railways Board
- British Transport Docks Board
- British Waterways Board
- London Transport Board
- Transport Holding Company
British Railways Board 1962-2000
The Transport Act 1962 provided for the constitution of the
British Railways Board (BRB), whose general responsibility was
outlined in Section 3 (1) as to provide "railway service in Great
Britain and, in connection with the provision of the railway
services, to provide such other services and facilities as appear
to the Board to be expedient, and to have due regard, as respects
all those railway and other services and facilities, to efficiency,
economy and safety of operation".6
The Board had powers:
- to develop its land in such manner as thought fit
- to construct, to manufacture, produce, purchase, maintain and
repair anything for the purposes of its business
- with the authorisation of the Secretary of State to purchase
compulsorily any land in Great Britain which it requires for the
purpose of its business
- to enter into working agreements involving the delegation of
special statutory powers
- to promote and oppose Bills in Parliament.
Following the creation of the Strategic Rail Authority in 2000, the BRB
retains responsibility for British Transport Police and non-operational
railway land. As a residuary body the Board is responsible for discharging
a variety of functions, including obligations in respect of liabilities
acquired as a major employer over nearly half a century, and as a direct
result of the privatisation process.
The Beeching Era
During the 1960s the British Railways underwent a radical reorganisation.
Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, was
appointed Chairman of the British Railways Board (BRB) on 1 January 1963.
The report "The Reshaping of British Railways"was published in 1963, in
which the BRB presented a plan for a new, more efficient, and smaller service
to counteract what was seen as an uneconomic service. The report recommended
greater concentration on containerized freight and inter-city passenger
services, and resulted in the closure of many minor routes (the rail network
was reduced from 13,000 to 11,000 miles) and stations (as many as 2,350
small stations are closed).7
Privatisation
In 1993 the government produced a White Paper entitled 'New opportunities
for the railways: the privatisation of British Rail' which proposed the
privatisation of the British Railways Board. These proposals were passed
into law in the form of the Railways Act 1993, and entailed the disintegration
of the British Railways Board's activities into 100 separate parts, each
one to be sold or franchised separately. Engineering functions and rolling
stock were sold, train operation was franchised, and ownership of the infrastructure, such as track, signalling and stations, was passed onto a new organisation, Railtrack. Railtrack was formed as a separate company in 1994, and was privatised in 1996. In 2001 the government placed Railtrack in administration as the mounting costs of maintaining the rail infrastructure had caused severe financial problems. Railtrack's role of managing the rail network was taken over by a not for profit organisation - Network Rail in October 2002. The first passenger franchises were let in February 1996 (Great Western and South West Trains), and three principal rail freight companies were sold to English, Welsh and Scottish Railway in the same year.8 The Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF) was also established by the Railways Act 1993, in which it was set out that the Franchising Director's responsibilities included negotiating and awarding passenger rail franchises on the basis of competitive tendering, and monitoring ongoing performance. In July 1999, OPRAF operated under the title the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA). The SSRA was set up to provide strategic planning, and to promote rail travel and freight transport with the aim to encourage private investments in the railways. In effect the SSRA combined the roles of the British Railways Board (BRB) and OPRAF pending Parliament's approval of the new Railways Bill, which would abolish both the position of Director of Passenger Rail Franchising and OPRAF, and would establish the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) as its successor body. Following the Transport Act 2000 the SRA came formally into being by shedding its 'shadow' status. Its key role is to
promote and develop the rail network and to encourage integration. In addition
to the provision of strategic direction, the SRA has responsibility for
consumer protection, investment projects, and managing rail franchises.
The SRA is currently involved in the process of replacing all the passenger
rail franchises that are due to expire by 2004; and in an effort to increase
the train operators' incentive to invest in the railways, the SRA has created
new long term franchise contracts of up to 20 years. |
Department details
