Privatised Railways By John Glover Soft Cover 1998  128 Pages

Privatised Railways By John Glover Soft Cover 1998 128 Pages

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Privatised Railways By John Glover Soft Cover 1998 128 Pages
 
Privatised Railways By John Glover Soft Cover 1998  128 Pages
The purpose of this book is to describe the principal changes to the organisation of Britain's railways under the Railways Act 1993.
This was not a minor event, since the Act has spelt the end of the integrated railway system owned and operated by a single body, which was established upon nationalisation on 1 January 1948. Yet, the years since World War 2 can hardly be said to have been an unqualified success for British Railways. Quite why this should have been so is open to question, but a fully successful remedy has so far eluded a succession of governments, of both political complexions. It will be several years before the results of the Conservative British Government's initiative become fully apparent, even if future circumstances do not force adjustments to the chosen course.
First, some of the key events of the last few years and their dates.
The book starts by considering the background to the changes, which began in earnest with the publication of the Government's White Paper 'New Opportunities for the Railways' on 14 July 1992. One immediate result was that the House of Commons Transport Committee set up an inquiry into 'The Future of the Railways...'; its first report was published on 13 January 1993 and a second, much fuller, report on 20 April 1993. The Railways Bill itself was published on 22 January 1993, and progressed through Parliament in the usual manner.
With limited changes, the Railways Bill became law on 5 November 1993. After a period to allow for the necessary restructuring of the railway, the main provisions came into force on 1 April 1994. Briefly, the most far-reaching changes were perhaps:
the separation of operations from the infrastructure on which the services run, with the infrastructure passing to the ownership of the newly set up company, Railtrack;
the creation of the post of Director of Rail Franchising, whose duties include the securing of railway passenger services by a series of franchise agreements with private operators;
the parallel creation of a Rail Regulator, whose duties include the licensing of operations, the approval of operator access agree-
ments with Railtrack and the enforcement of competition law;
the setting up of three rolling stock companies to own the locomotives and rolling stock, which are then leased to the passenger operating companies; and
the restructuring of the freight businesses with a view to their subsequent sale.
The Railways Act contains 154 sections and 14 schedules, spread over 244 pages. (By comparison the Transport Act 1947, which nationalised virtually the whole of the inland transport industry in Britain, confined itself to 170 rather smaller pages.) There is, of course, much more to the Railways Act, and various aspects are discussed in successive sections. Neither is it only the Railways Act to be considered, since European legislation, after remaining relatively dormant in the transport sector for several years, is now assuming a more prominent role.
This is a story of which only the early chapters can as yet be written. It is hoped that the reader will find it of value in getting to grips with what is happening to the railway as it approaches the millennium.
Finally, whatever misgivings we might have, let us cheer ourselves with s4(1)(13) of the Act. This gives the Regulator the duty `to promote the use of the railway network in Great Britain for the carriage of passengers and goods, and the development of that railway network, to the greatest extent that he considers economically possible'. And who could argue with that?

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