:British Rail

{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994}}

File:British Railways filmstrip (2).jpg

{{Anchor|Nationalisation in 1948}}

File:70013 Oliver Cromwell Carlisle Kingmoor.jpg]]

The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). During World War I, the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921{{cite hansard |title = The State and the Railways |url = https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1920/aug/03/the-state-and-the-railways |series= Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |house = House of Lords |date = 3 August 1920 |access-date = 14 March 2019 |column_start = 711 |column_end = 713 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090719130758/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1920/aug/03/the-state-and-the-railways |archive-date = 19 July 2009 |url-status = live }} is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected. Nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II, under the Transport Act 1947. This Act made provision for the nationalisation of the network as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=67 |title = Transport Act 1947 |author = Her Majesty's Government |year = 1947 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120325224406/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=67 |archive-date = 25 March 2012 |url-status = live }}

There were also joint railways between the Big Four and a few light railways to consider (see list of constituents of British Railways). Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway. The London Underground also became publicly owned, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was already run by the government. The electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was also excluded from nationalisation.{{cite web |url = https://www.citymetric.com/transport/liverpool-overhead-railway-was-legendary-it-worth-rebuilding-3575 |title = The Liverpool Overhead Railway was legendary – but is it worth rebuilding? |website = citymetric.com |date = 4 January 2018 |access-date = 25 April 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180426080003/https://www.citymetric.com/transport/liverpool-overhead-railway-was-legendary-it-worth-rebuilding-3575 |archive-date = 26 April 2018 |url-status = live}}

The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the (then very dense) network were unprofitable and hard to justify socially, and a programme of closures began almost immediately after nationalisation. However, the general financial position of BR became gradually poorer until an operating loss was recorded in 1955. The Executive itself had been abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government, and control of BR transferred to the parent Commission. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the same time included the return of road haulage to the private sector; however, BR retained its own (smaller) in-house road haulage service.

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{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994#The Modernisation Plan}}

File:Bristol Pullman (8226781197).jpg at Bristol Bath Road TMD]]

The report, latterly known as the "Modernisation Plan",{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=23 |title = Modernisation and Re-Equipment of British Rail |author = British Transport Commission |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = British Transport Commission |year = 1954 |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061031102337/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=23 |archive-date = 31 October 2006 |url-status = live }} was published in January 1955. It was intended to bring the railway system into the 20th century. A government White Paper produced in 1956 stated that modernisation would help eliminate BR's financial deficit by 1962, but the figures in both this and the original plan were produced for political reasons and not based on detailed analysis.{{cite book |last = Loft |first = Charles |year = 2013 |title = Last Trains – Dr Beeching and the Death of Rural England |publisher = Biteback |isbn = 9781849545006}} The aim was to increase speed, reliability, safety, and line capacity through a series of measures that would make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic lost to the roads. Important areas included:

• Electrification of principal main lines, in the Eastern Region, Kent, Birmingham to Liverpool/Manchester and Central Scotland
• Large-scale dieselisation to replace steam locomotives
• New passenger and freight rolling stock
• Resignalling and track renewals
• Modern marshalling yards
• The closure of an unspecified but relatively small number of lines

The government appeared to endorse the 1955 programme (costing £1.2 billion), but did so largely for political reasons. This included the withdrawal of steam traction and its replacement by diesel (and some electric) locomotives. Not all modernisations would be effective at reducing costs. The dieselisation programme gave contracts primarily to British suppliers, who had limited experience of diesel locomotive manufacture, and rushed commissioning based on an expectation of rapid electrification; this resulted in numbers of locomotives with poor designs and a lack of standardisation.{{cite book |title = British Railways, 1948–73: a business history |first=Terence Richard |last = Gourvish |author2 = N. Blake |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1986 |pages = 286–290}} At the same time, containerised freight was being developed. The marshalling yard building programme was a failure, being based on a belief in the continued viability of wagon-load traffic in the face of increasingly effective road competition, and lacking effective forward planning or realistic assessments of future freight. A 2002 documentary broadcast on BBC Radio 4 blamed the 1950s decisions for the "beleaguered" condition of the railway system at that time.{{Cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1989357.stm |title = Bad railways? Blame it on the 1950s |date = 16 May 2002 |work = BBC News |access-date = 25 September 2018 |language = en-GB |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180652/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1989357.stm |archive-date = 25 September 2018 |url-status = live}}

File:Beeching2.svg

{{Main|Beeching cuts}}

During the late 1950s, railway finances continued to worsen; whilst passenger numbers grew after restoring many services reduced during the war, and in 1959 the government stepped in, limiting the amount the BTC could spend without ministerial authority. A White Paper proposing reorganisation was published in the following year, and a new structure was brought into effect by the Transport Act 1962.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=116 |title = Transport Act 1962 |author = Her Majesty's Government |year = 1962 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070819224356/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=116 |archive-date = 19 August 2007 |url-status = live }} This abolished the commission and replaced it by several separate boards. These included a British Railways Board, which took over on 1 January 1963.{{cite web |url = http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1093 |title = nationalarchives.gov.uk |access-date = 17 March 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180317104642/http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1093 |archive-date = 17 March 2018 |url-status = live }}

File:British Railways Delivery Truck London 1962.jpg truck in British Railways livery, London, 1962. British Railways was involved in numerous related businesses, including road haulage.]]

Following semi-secret discussions on railway finances by the government-appointed Stedeford Committee in 1961, one of its members, Dr Richard Beeching, was offered the post of chairing the BTC while it lasted and then became the first Chairman of the British Railways Board.{{cite web |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/beeching_prog1.shtml |title = Back to Beeching |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091003010237/http://www0.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/beeching_prog1.shtml |archive-date = 3 October 2009 |publisher = BBC Radio 4 |date = 27 February 2010}}

A major traffic census in April 1961, which lasted one week, was used in the compilation of a report on the future of the network. This report – The Reshaping of British Railways – was published by the BRB in March 1963.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=13 |title = The Reshaping of British Railways – Part 1: Report |author = British Transport Commission |year = 1963 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20101019045735/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=13 |archive-date = 19 October 2010 |url-status = live }}{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=35 |title = The Reshaping of British Railways—Part 2: Maps |author = British Transport Commission |year = 1963 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061026155439/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=35 |archive-date = 26 October 2006 |url-status = live }} The proposals, which became known as the Beeching cuts, were dramatic. A third of all passenger services and more than 4,000 of the 7,000 stations would close. Beeching, who is thought to have been the author of most of the report, set out some dire figures. One third of the network was carrying just 1% of the traffic. Of the 18,000 passenger coaches, 6,000 were said to be used only 18 times a year or less. Although maintaining them cost between £3{{nbsp}}million and £4{{nbsp}}million a year, they earned only about £0.5{{nbsp}}million.Richard Beeching "The Reshaping of British Railways", p. 15.

Most of the closures were carried out between 1963 and 1970 (including some which were not listed in the report), while other suggested closures were not carried out. The closures were heavily criticised at the time.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=236 |title = The Economics and Social Aspects of the Beeching Plan |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110605021806/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=236 |archive-date = 5 June 2011 |author = Lord Stoneham |publisher = House of Lords |via = railwaysarchive.co.uk |date = 1963}} A small number of stations and lines closed under the Beeching programme have been reopened, with further reopenings proposed.{{cite web |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8099912.stm |title = Move to reinstate lost rail lines |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090617194906/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8099912.stm |archive-date=17 June 2009 |publisher = BBC News |date = 15 June 2009}}

A second Beeching report, "The Development of the Major Trunk Routes", followed in 1965.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=14 |title = The Development Of The Major Railway Trunk Routes |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = British Railways Board |date = February 1965 |access-date = 27 March 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120418212554/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=14 |archive-date = 18 April 2012 |url-status = live }}{{cite news |work = The Times |title = The Second Stage of Dr. Beeching's Reorganisation Proposals |date = 17 February 1965 |page = 8}} This did not recommend closures as such but outlined a "network for development"; the fate of the rest of the network was not discussed in the report.

The basis for calculating passenger fares changed in 1964. In future, fares on some routes—such as rural, holiday and commuter services—would be set at a higher level than on other routes; previously, fares had been calculated using a simple rate for the distance travelled, which at the time was 3d per mile second class, and 4½d per mile first class{{cite magazine |editor-first = B.W.C. |editor-last = Cooke |date = July 1964 |department = Notes and News |title = New fares structure |magazine = The Railway Magazine |volume = 110 |issue = 759 |page = 592 |publisher = Tothill Press |location = Westminster}} (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|{{#expr: 3 / 240}}|1964|r=2}}}} and £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|{{#expr: 4.5 / 240}}|1964|r=2}}}} respectively, in {{Inflation-year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}).

In 1966, a "Whites only" recruitment policy for guards at Euston station agreed between the local union branch and station management{{cite web |last1 = Davis |first1 = Rachael |title = Euston's first Black train guard who ended racial segregation on London's railway |url = https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/euston-station-black-train-guard-19910274 |website = MyLondon |date = 9 March 2022 |publisher = Reach plc |access-date = 3 April 2023}}{{cite web |last1 = Page |first1 = Chris |title = Resistance to change |url = https://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1722-Resistance-to-change |publisher = Railfuture Ltd |access-date = 3 April 2023}} was dropped after the case of Asquith Xavier, a migrant from Dominica, who had been refused promotion on those grounds, was raised in Parliament and taken up by the then Secretary of State for Transport, Barbara Castle.{{cite web |title = Asquith Xavier: Plaque honours train guard who fought Whites-only policy |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-54272188 |work = BBC News |access-date = 24 September 2020 |date = 24 September 2020}}

Passenger levels decreased steadily from 1962 to the late 1970s,The UK [https://web.archive.org/web/20041017235852/http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/divisionhomepage/031571.hcsp Department for Transport] (DfT), specifically Table 6.1 from [http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/downloadable/dft_transstats_613483.pdf Transport Statistics Great Britain 2006] {{webarchive |url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080908033415/http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/downloadable/dft_transstats_613483.pdf |date = 8 September 2008 }} (4 MB PDF file) and reached a low in 1982.{{cite web |url = http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/social-trends-rd/social-trends/social-trends-40/social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf |title = UK Government Web Archive |access-date = 13 August 2017 |archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105224526/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/social-trends-rd/social-trends/social-trends-40/social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf |archive-date = 5 January 2016 |url-status = bot: unknown }} Network improvements included completing electrification of the Great Eastern Main Line from London to Norwich between 1976 and 1986 and the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh between 1985 and 1990.{{cite book |last1 = Cowley |first1 = Ian |title = Anglia East |date = 1987 |publisher = David & Charles |location = Newton Abbot, UK |isbn = 0-7153-8978-5 |pages = 43–47}}{{cite news |last1 = Shirres |first1 = David |title = ECML: Electrification as it used to be |url = https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/11/27/ecml-electrification-as-it-used-to-be/ |work = Rail Engineer |publisher = Rail Media Group |place = Coalville |access-date = 10 January 2018 |archive-date = 11 January 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180111165146/https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/11/27/ecml-electrification-as-it-used-to-be/ |url-status = dead }} A mainline route closure during this period of relative network stability was the {{nowrap|1,500 V DC}}-electrified Woodhead line between Manchester and Sheffield: passenger service ceased in 1970 and goods in 1981.{{cite magazine |title = Over the Woodhead in the cab of Tommy |first = Christopher |last = Nicholson |pages = 43–47 |magazine = The Railway Magazine |date = September 2014 |volume = 160 |issue = 1,362 |issn = 0033-8923}}

A further British Rail report from a committee chaired by Sir David Serpell was published in 1983. The Serpell Report made no recommendations as such but did set out various options for the network, including, at their most extreme, a skeletal system of less than 2,000{{nbsp}}route{{nbsp}}km (1,240{{nbsp}}miles). The report was received with hostility within several circles, which included figures within the government, as well as amongst the public.{{cite news |last1 = Rogers |first1 = Roy |title = Hostile reception for Serpell options |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19830121&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date = 15 February 2017 |work = The Glasgow Herald |date = 21 January 1983}} The reaction was so strong that Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister at that time, stated that decisions on the report would not immediately be taken. The Serpell report was quietly shelved, although the British Government was periodically accused by its opponents of implementing the report via stealth for some years thereafter.{{cite news |last1 = Rogers |first1 = Roy |title = Fresh ingredients that will be unpalatable to the rail industry |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19830120&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date = 10 July 2020 |work = The Glasgow Herald |date = 20 January 1983 |page = 11}}{{cite news |title = Sir David Serpell |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2512056/Sir-David-Serpell.html |access-date = 22 February 2017 |work = The Telegraph |date = 6 August 2008}}{{cite news |last1 = Dalyell |first1 = Tam |title = Sir David Serpell: Able and influential civil servant |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-david-serpell-able-and-influential-civil-servant-888236.html |access-date = 6 November 2017 |work = The Independent |date = 7 August 2008}}

The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of some railways which had survived the Beeching cuts a generation earlier but which had seen passenger services withdrawn. This included the bulk of the Chester and Connah's Quay Railway in 1992, the Brierley Hill to Walsall section of the South Staffordshire line in 1993, while the Birmingham to Wolverhampton section of the Great Western Railway was closed in three phases between 1972 and 1992.

{{Main|Transport Act 1968}}

Following the election of Labour in 1964, on a platform of revising many of the cuts, Tom Fraser instead authorised the closure 1,071 mi of railway lines, following the recommendations from the Beeching Report even lines not considered closing.{{cite book |last = Henshaw |first = David |title = The Great Railway Conspiracy |publisher = McDermott|page = 165 |edition = Third |year = 2013 |isbn = 978-0-957651 1-0-4}} After he resigned in 1967, his replacement Barbara Castle continued the line and station closures but introduced the first Government rail subsidies for socially necessary but unprofitable railways in the Transport Act 1968. Part of these provisions was the creation of a passenger transport executive or PTE within larger metropolitan areas. Prior to this, public transport was run by individual local authorities and private companies, with little co-ordination. The PTEs took over the responsibility (but not ownership) of managing local rail networks.

The 1968 Act created five new bodies. These were:

• West Midlands PTE on 1 October 1969
• SELNEC PTE (South East Lancashire & North East Cheshire) on 1 November 1969 (now Greater Manchester)
• Merseyside PTE on 1 December 1969 (now Liverpool City Region)
• Tyneside PTE on 1 January 1970 (now Tyne and Wear)
• Greater Glasgow PTE on 1 June 1973 (now Strathclyde)

This was the first real subdivision of BR since its inception in 1949, and likely saved many lines earmarked for closure,{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} notably the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway, which now forms part of the Merseyrail network.

File:Charing Cross station geograph-3300926-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg Class 465 at Charing Cross]]

Upon sectorisation in 1982, three passenger sectors were created: InterCity, operating principal express services; London & South East (renamed Network SouthEast in 1986) operating commuter services in the London area; Provincial (renamed Regional Railways in 1989) responsible for all other passenger services. In the metropolitan counties local services were managed by the Passenger Transport Executives. Provincial was the most subsidised (per passenger km) of the three sectors; upon formation, its costs were four times its revenue.{{cite Q|Q112224535 |author-link = David St John Thomas|first1 = David St John|last1 = Thomas |last2 = Whitehouse |first2 = Patrick}} During the 1980s British Rail ran the Rail Riders membership club aimed at 5- to 15-year-olds.

Because British Railways was such a large operation, running not just railways but also ferries, steamships and hotels, it has been considered difficult to analyse the effects of nationalisation.{{cite book |last = Boocokc |first = Colin |title = Spotlight on BR: British Railways 1948–1998 Success or Disaster? |year = 1998 |publisher = Atlantic Transport |isbn = 978-0-906899-98-4}}

Prices rose quickly in this period, rising 108% in real terms from 1979 to 1994, as prices rose by 262% but RPI only increased by 154% in the same time.{{cite book |title = British Rail 1974–1997: From Integration to Privatisation |last = Gourvish |first = Terry |page = 277}}

{{Main|British Rail corporate liveries}}

Following nationalisation in 1948, British Railways began to adapt the corporate liveries on the rolling stock it had inherited from its predecessor railway companies. Initially, an express blue (followed by GWR-style Brunswick green in 1952) was used on passenger locomotives, and LNWR-style lined black for mixed-traffic locomotives, but later green was more widely adopted.{{cite book |first1 = Brian |last1 = Haresnape |title = Railway Liveries: BR Steam 1948-1968 |last2 = Boocock |first2 = Colin |year = 1989 |publisher = Ian Allan |location = Shepperton |isbn = 0-7110-1856-1 |page = 11 }}{{sfn|Height|Cresswell|1979}}

Development of a corporate identity for the organisation was hampered by the competing ambitions of the British Transport Commission and the Railway Executive. The Executive attempted to introduce a modern Art Deco-style curved logo, which could also serve as the standard for station signage totems. BR eventually adopted the common branding of the BTC as its first corporate logo, a lion astride a spoked wheel, designed for the BTC by Cecil Thomas; on the bar overlaid across the wheel, the BTC's name was replaced with the words "British Railways". This logo, nicknamed the "Cycling Lion", was applied from 1948 to 1956 to the sides of locomotives, while the ‘hot dog’ design was adopted for smaller station name signs, known officially as ‘lamp tablets’ and coloured for the appropriate BR region, using Gill Sans lettering first adopted by the LNER from 1929.

In 1956, the BTC was granted a heraldic achievement by the College of Arms and the Lord Lyon, and then BTC chairman Brian Robertson wanted a grander logo for the railways. BR's second corporate logo (1956–1965), designed in consultation with Charles Franklyn and inspired by the much more detailed BTC crest, depicted a rampant lion emerging from a heraldic crown and holding a spoked wheel, all enclosed in a roundel with the "British Railways" name displayed across a bar on either side. This emblem soon acquired the nickname of the "Ferret and Dartboard". A variant of the logo with the name in a circle was also used on locomotives.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}

File:Lion on Wheel emblem on the side of M79990.jpg|The first lion emblem

File:Train Stations and Trains National Rail Museum (5632693721).jpg|The later lion emblem on BR locomotives

File:British Railways London Midland Region station totem for Liverpool Central Low Level.jpg|Liverpool Central station sign using the 'hot dog' totem, properly called a lamp tablet

File:British Rail - colour reversed logo.svg designed by Gerald Barney (1965)]]

The zeal for modernisation in the Beeching era drove the next rebranding exercise, and BR management wished to divest the organisation of anachronistic, heraldic motifs and develop a corporate identity to rival that of London Transport. BR's design panel set up a working party led by Milner Gray of the Design Research Unit. They drew up a Corporate Identity Manual which established a coherent brand and design standard for the whole organisation, specifying Rail Blue and pearl grey as the standard colour scheme for all rolling stock; Rail Alphabet as the standard corporate typeface, designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert; and introducing the now-iconic corporate Identity Symbol of the Double Arrow logo. Designed by Gerald Barney (also of the DRU), this arrow device was formed of two interlocked arrows across two parallel lines, symbolising a double-track railway. It was likened to a bolt of lightning or barbed wire, and also acquired a nickname: "the arrow of indecision".{{cite web |url = https://madebysix.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/the-arrow-of-indecision/ |title = The Arrow of Indecision |website = madebysix.wordpress.com |date = 5 January 2012 |access-date = 26 April 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170427102214/https://madebysix.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/the-arrow-of-indecision/ |archive-date = 27 April 2017 |url-status = live }}{{cite web |last = Shannon |first = Paul |title = Blue Diesel Days |work= |publisher = Ian Allan Publishing |url = http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/product.php?productid=56658&cat=1027&bestseller=Y |archive-url = https://archive.today/20081201010813/http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/product.php?productid=56658&cat=1027&bestseller=Y |archive-date = 1 December 2008 |access-date = 16 November 2008}} A mirror image of the double arrow was used on the port side of BR-owned Sealink ferry funnels. The new BR corporate identity and double arrow were displayed at the Design Centre in London in early 1965, and the brand name of the organisation was shortened to "British Rail".{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Height|Cresswell|1979}} It is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations,{{cite web |title = The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (SI 2002:3113) |author = Her Majesty's Government |year = 2002 |url = http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/023113dh.gif |access-date = 27 March 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090419172250/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/023113dh.gif |archive-date = 19 April 2009 |url-status = live }} and is still printed on railway tickets as part of the Rail Delivery Group's jointly managed National Rail brand.

File:Livree BR.GIF

The uniformity of BR branding continued until the process of sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s. Certain BR operations such as Inter-City, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways or Rail Express Systems began to adopt their own identities, introducing logos and colour schemes which were essentially variants of the British Rail brand. Eventually, as sectorisation developed into a prelude to privatisation, the unified British Rail brand disappeared, with the notable exception of the Double Arrow symbol, which has survived to this day and serves as a generic trademark to denote railway services across Great Britain.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} The BR Corporate Identity Manual is noted as a piece of British design history and there are plans for it to be re-published.{{cite news |title = Is the British Rail logo a design icon? |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35144496 |work = BBC News |access-date = 20 December 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151220132046/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35144496 |archive-date = 20 December 2015}}

With its creation in 1948, British Railways was divided into regions which were initially based on the areas the former Big Four operated in; later, several lines were transferred between regions. Notably, these included the former Great Central lines from the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region, and the West of England Main Line from the Southern Region to Western Region

• Southern Region: former Southern Railway lines.
• Western Region: former Great Western Railway lines.
• London Midland Region: former London, Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England and Wales.
• Eastern Region: former London and North Eastern Railway lines south of York.
• Anglia Region: split from Eastern Region in 1988.{{cite book |last = Baker |first = Stuart K. |title = Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland |edition = 5th |year = 1988 |orig-year = 1977 |publisher = Oxford Publishing Co |location = Yeovil |isbn = 0-86093-419-5|page = 40 |id = T419 }}
• North Eastern Region: former London and North Eastern Railway lines in England north of York.
• Scottish Region: all lines, regardless of the original company, in Scotland.

The North Eastern Region was merged with the Eastern Region in 1967.

File:BR InterCity Logo.svg

File:Regional railways logo.svg

In 1982, the regions were abolished as the service provider (but retained for administration) and replaced by "business sectors", a process known as sectorisation.

The passenger sectors were (by the early 1990s):

• InterCity (express services).
• InterCity Sleeper (Night train services)
• Gatwick Express (express service to/from Gatwick Airport)
• Network SouthEast (London commuter services).
• Stansted Express (express service to/from Stansted Airport)
• Regional Railways (regional services).
• Alphaline (enhanced regional express passenger services) (Added in 1994)
• ScotRail (regional and sub-intercity services in Scotland).
• TransPennine Express (sub-intercity services in the North).

In addition, the non-passenger sectors were:

• Railfreight responsible for all freight operations, later subdivided into train operations.
• Trainload Freight took trainload freight.
• Railfreight Distribution took non-trainload freight.
• Speedlink a wagonload freight service utilising air-braked wagons.
• Freightliner took intermodal traffic.
• Rail Express Systems took parcels traffic.

The maintenance and remaining engineering works were split off into a new company, British Rail Maintenance Limited. The new sectors were further subdivided into divisions.

File:Maesteg Castle Street Station - geograph.org.uk - 3905158.jpg since reopened by BR as the Maesteg Line]]

This ended the BR blue period as new liveries were adopted gradually. Infrastructure remained the responsibility of the regions until the "Organisation for Quality" initiative in 1991 when this too was transferred to the sectors. The Anglia Region was created in late 1987, its first General Manager being John Edmonds, who began his appointment on 19 October 1987. Full separation from the Eastern Region – apart from engineering design needs – occurred on 29 April 1988. It handled the services from {{stnlnk|Fenchurch Street}} and {{stn|Liverpool Street}}, its western boundary being {{stnlnk|Hertford East}}, {{stnlnk|Meldreth}} and {{stnlnk|Whittlesea}}.{{cite magazine |date = December 1987 |editor-last = Slater |editor-first = John |title = Anglia Region created |magazine = Railway Magazine |location = Cheam |publisher = Prospect Magazines |volume = 133 |issue = 1040 |page = 758 |issn = 0033-8923}}{{cite magazine |date = July 1988 |editor1-last = Slater |editor1-first = John |title = Anglia takes over |magazine = Railway Magazine |location = Cheam |publisher = Prospect Magazines |volume = 134 |issue = 1047 |page = 426 |issn = 0033-8923}}

The former BR network, with the trunk routes of the West Coast Main Line, East Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line, Great Eastern Main Line and Midland Main Line, and other lines.

{{Main|British Transport Police}}

Policing on (and within) the network was carried out British Transport Police (BTP). In 1947 the Transport Act created the British Transport Commission (BTC), which unified the railway system. On 1 January 1949, the British Transport Commission Police (BTCP) were created, formed from the four old railway police forces, the London Transport Police, canal police and several minor dock forces. In 1957 the Maxwell-Johnson enquiry found that policing requirements for the railway could not be met by civil forces and that it was essential that a specialist police force be retained. On 1 January 1962, the British Transport Commission Police ceased to cover British Waterways property{{cite web |url = http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Constituent%20Force/Canal%20Forces/Sharpness%20Dock%20Police%20%20(1874%201948).htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040614073125/http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Constituent%20Force/Canal%20Forces/Sharpness%20Dock%20Police%20%20%281874%201948%29.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 14 June 2004 |title = Sharpness Dock Police (1874–1948) |website = British Transport Police }} and exactly a year later when the BTC was abolished the name of the force was amended to the British Transport Police. This name and its role within policing on the rail network was continued post-1994.

Despite its nationalisation in 1947 "as one of the 'commanding heights' of the economy",{{cite web |url = http://www.rail.co.uk/british-railway-history/british-railways/ |title = History of Railways in Britain |work = Rail.co.uk |access-date = 27 November 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151207124639/http://www.rail.co.uk/british-railway-history/british-railways/ |archive-date = 7 December 2015 |url-status = live }} according to some sources British Rail was not profitable for most (if not all){{cite web |url = http://www.rail.co.uk/british-railway-history/ |title = History of the British Railway |work = Rail.co.uk |access-date = 27 November 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151128090614/http://www.rail.co.uk/british-railway-history/ |archive-date = 28 November 2015 |url-status = live }} of its history.{{cite book |title = British Railways 1948–73: A Business History |first = T. R. |last = Gourvish |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 2011 |isbn = 978-0-521-18883-8}} Newspapers reported that as recently as the 1990s, public rail subsidy was counted as profit;{{cite news |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/british-rail-profit-figure-masks-doubling-of-subsidy-1589866.html |title = British Rail 'profit' figure masks doubling of subsidy |work = Independent |first = Christian |last = Wolmar |date = 23 October 2011 |access-date = 27 November 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151231205914/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/british-rail-profit-figure-masks-doubling-of-subsidy-1589866.html |archive-date = 31 December 2015 |url-status = live }} as early as 1961, British Railways were losing £300,000 a day.{{cite web |url = http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/03/fifty-years-on-from-beeching-and-britains-railways-are-better-than-ever/ |title = Fifty years on from Beeching and Britain's railways are better than ever |work = The Spectator |first = Sebastian |last = Payne |access-date = 27 November 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150928193402/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/03/fifty-years-on-from-beeching-and-britains-railways-are-better-than-ever/ |archive-date = 28 September 2015 |url-status = live }}

Although the company was considered the sole public-transport option in many rural areas, the Beeching cuts made buses the only public transport available in some rural areas.{{cite journal |url = http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr09/f12_wek.html |title = Railway Services for Rural Areas |first = John |last = Welsby |journal = Japan Railway & Transport Review |issue = 9 |pages = 12–17 |access-date = 27 November 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233508/http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr09/f12_wek.html |archive-date = 3 March 2016 |url-status = dead }} Despite increases in traffic congestion and road fuel prices beginning to rise in the 1990s, British Rail remained unprofitable. Following sectorisation, InterCity became profitable. InterCity became one of Britain's top 150 companies, providing city centre to city centre travel across the nation from Aberdeen and Inverness in the north to Poole and Penzance in the south.{{cite news |url = http://www.railstaff.uk/2013/12/19/the-fall-and-rise-of-britains-railways-3/ |title = The fall and rise of Britain's railways |work = Rail Staff News |date = 19 December 2013 |access-date = 11 November 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161111193714/http://www.railstaff.uk/2013/12/19/the-fall-and-rise-of-britains-railways-3/ |archive-date = 11 November 2016 |url-status = live }}

In 1979, the incoming Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher was viewed as anti-railway, and did not want to commit public money to the railways. However, British Rail was allowed to spend its own money with government approval. This led to a number of electrification projects being given the go-ahead, including the East Coast Main Line, the spur from Doncaster to Leeds, and the lines in East Anglia out of London Liverpool Street to Norwich and King's Lynn. The list with approximate completion dates includes:{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

• St Pancras – Bedford 1981–83
• Rock Ferry – Hooton 1985
• Hitchin – Leeds 1985–88
• Colchester – Norwich 1986
• Bishops Stortford – Cambridge 1987
• Watford Junction – St Albans Abbey 1988
• Royston – Cambridge 1988
• Snow Hill Tunnel as part of Thameslink project 1988
• Doncaster – York 1989
• Airdrie – Drumgelloch 1989
• York – Edinburgh Waverley (and the spur to North Berwick) 1991
• Carstairs – Edinburgh Waverley 1991
• Cambridge – King's Lynn 1992
• Hooton – Ellesmere Port and Chester 1993–94
• London Paddington – Heathrow Airport 1993–98
• Leeds and Bradford Forster Square – Skipton and Ilkley 1994

In the Southwest, the South West Main Line from Bournemouth to Weymouth was electrified along with other infill {{nowrap|750 V DC}} third rail electrification in the south. In 1988, the line to Aberdare was reopened. A British Rail advertisement ("Britain's Railway", directed by Hugh Hudson) featured some of the best-known railway structures in Britain, including the Forth Rail Bridge, Royal Albert Bridge, Glenfinnan Viaduct and London Paddington station.{{cite AV media |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyyJaX0j3Y |title = Britain's Railway Advert 16:9 HD |date = 31 August 2011 |via = YouTube |access-date = 26 May 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150522030634/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyyJaX0j3Y |archive-date = 22 May 2015 |url-status = live }} London Liverpool Street station was rebuilt, opened by Queen Elizabeth II, and a new station was constructed at Stansted Airport in 1991. The following year, the Maesteg line was reopened. In 1988, the Windsor Link Line, Manchester was constructed and has proven to be an important piece of infrastructure.{{cite magazine |title = Bridge completes Windsor Link |magazine = Railway Magazine |issue = 1046 |date = June 1988 |page = 350 }}

File:Annotated APTIS.jpg

Before the introduction of APTIS (Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System), British Rail used the Edmondson railway ticket, first introduced in the 1840s and phased out in the early 1970s. Tickets issued from British Rail's APTIS system had a considerable amount of information presented in a consistent, standard format. The design for all tickets was created by Colin Goodall. This format has formed the basis for all subsequent ticket issuing systems introduced on the railway network – ticket-office-based, self-service and conductor-operated machines alike. APTIS survived in widespread use for twenty years but, in the early 2000s, was largely replaced by more modern PC-based ticketing systems. Some APTIS machines in the Greater London area were modified as APTIS-ANT (with no obvious difference to the ticket issued) to make them Oyster card compatible.{{cite magazine |title = Ticketing: APTIS replacement takes shape |magazine = Modern Railways |issue = 631 |date = April 2001 |pages = 37–42}} The last APTIS machines were removed at the end of 2006 as there was no option to upgrade them to accept Chip and PIN credit card payments. The last APTIS-ANT ticket to be issued in the UK using one of the machines was at Upminster station on 21 March 2007.{{cite magazine |title = An apt end for BR's APTIS |magazine = Rail |issue = 563 |date = 11 April 2007 |page = 14}}{{cite web |url = http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/latest_updates/news/last_call_for_ticket_work_horse |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080724185058/http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/latest_updates/news/last_call_for_ticket_work_horse |title = Last call for ticket work horse |publisher = c2c |date = 23 March 2007|archive-date = 24 July 2008 }}{{cite magazine |title = Last APTIS ticket sold |magazine = Today's Railways UK |issue = 66 |date = June 2007 |page = 11}}

Before the rail network was privatised, British Rail introduced several discount cards through the APTIS that were available to certain demographics, issued either by National or Regional schemes:

• 16–25 Railcard
• The Network Railcard, introduced in 1986 by British Rail upon the creation of their Network SouthEast sector in parts of Southern England
• Disabled Persons Railcard, introduced in 1981 to coincide with the International Year of Disabled Persons.
• Senior Railcard, introduced in 1970.

{{Main|List of accidents on British Rail}}

The narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway in Ceredigion, Wales, became part of British Railways at nationalisation. Although built as a working railway, in 1948 the line was principally a tourist attraction. British Rail operated the line using steam locomotives long after the withdrawal of standard-gauge steam. The line's three steam locomotives were the only ones to receive TOPS serial numbers and be painted in BR Rail Blue livery with the double arrow logo. The Vale of Rheidol Railway was privatised in 1989 and continues to operate as a private heritage railway.{{cite magazine |title = The Great British Rail Sale is Over |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1152 |date = April 1997 |pages = 24–25}}{{cite journal |last = Boyd-Hope |first = Gary |title = Rheidol revival: 20 years of private enterprise |journal = Steam Railway |volume = 358 |date = January 2009 |pages = 91–95}}

Other preserved lines, or heritage railways, have reopened lines previously closed by British Rail. These range from picturesque rural branch lines like the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway to sections of mainline such as the Great Central Railway.{{Cite news |url = https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-35534096 |title = 'Split' rail line to be reconnected |date = 12 February 2016 |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 5 February 2019 |language = en-GB}} Many have links to the National Rail network, both at station interchanges, for example, the Severn Valley Railway between {{stnlnk|Kidderminster}} and Kidderminster Town, and physical rail connections like the Watercress Line at {{stnlnk|Alton}}.{{cite web |last = Pearson |first = Mike |title = Mid Hants Railway (The Watercress Line) – A Guide |url = http://www.watercressline.co.uk/mhrguide.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080224160319/http://www.watercressline.co.uk/mhrguide.htm |archive-date = 24 February 2008 |website = watercressline.co.uk |publisher = Mid Hants Railway |access-date = 2 June 2010}}{{cite book |last = Marshall |first = John |title = The Severn Valley Railway |year = 1989 |publisher = David St John Thomas |location = Newton Abbot |isbn = 0-946537-45-3 |author-link = John Marshall (railway historian)}}

Although most are operated solely as leisure amenities, some also provide educational resources, and a few have ambitions to restore commercial services over routes abandoned by the nationalised industry.

{{Main|InterCity Sleeper (British Rail)}}

When the railways came into public ownership in 1948, British Railways inherited a number of night train services from the Big Four.{{cite web |title=BR's last hurrah! |url=https://www.railmagazine.com/news/rail-features/br-s-last-hurrah |website=www.railmagazine.com |access-date=4 June 2024 |language=en}} Sleeping car services were operated on the West and East coast routes and GWR mainlines to several destinations. Routes included {{Stnlnk|London Paddington}} to {{Stnlnk|Birkenhead Woodside}}, {{Stnlnk|Manchester Piccadilly}} to {{Stnlnk|Plymouth}}, {{Stnlnk|Liverpool Lime Street}} to {{Stnlnk|London Euston}} and the Night Ferry sleeper from {{Stnlnk|London Victoria}} to Brussels and Paris.{{cite web |first1=Nicky |last1=Gardner |first2=Susanne |last2=Kries |website=Europe by Rail |title=Anglo-Scottish Night Trains Sixty Years Ago |url=https://www.europebyrail.eu/anglo-scottish-night-trains-sixty-years-ago/ |access-date=4 June 2024 |date=12 August 2020}} On Privatisation saw the services broken up in February 1996 and the rolling stock repainted into the new liveries, with the last ever BR service being a Scottish sleeper from Euston in 1997.

{{Main|British Railways ships}}

File:Gb~brail.png

British Railways operated ships from its formation in 1948 on several routes. Many ships were acquired on nationalisation, and others were built for operation by British Railways or its later subsidiary, Sealink. Those ships capable of carrying rail vehicles were classed under TOPS as Class 99.

{{Main|Sealink}}

File:Ulidia.jpg

Sealink was originally the brand name for the ferry services of British Rail in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Services to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were run by Sealink UK as part of the Sealink consortium, which also used ferries owned by French national railways (SNCF), the Belgian Maritime Transport Authority Regie voor Maritiem Transport/Regie des transports maritimes (RMT/RTM) and the Dutch Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (Zeeland Steamship Company).

Historically, the shipping services were exclusively an extension of the railways across the English Channel and the Irish Sea in order to provide through, integrated services to mainland Europe and Ireland. As international travel became more popular in the late 1960s and before air travel became generally affordable, the responsibility for shipping services was taken away from the British Rail Regions and, in 1969, centralised in a new division – British Rail Shipping and International Services Division.

With the advent of car ferry services, the old passenger-only ferries were gradually replaced by roll-on/roll-off ships, catering for motorists and rail passengers as well as road freight. However, given that there was now competition in the form of other ferry companies offering crossings to motorists, it became necessary to market the services in a normal business fashion (as opposed to the previous almost monopolistic situation). Thus, with the other partners mentioned above, the brand name Sealink was introduced for the consortium.{{cite magazine |title = Sealink title for BR and alliped shipping services |magazine = Railway Gazette |date = 21 November 1969 |page = 843 }}

In the late 1960s, as demand for international rail travel declined and the shipping business became almost exclusively dependent on passenger and freight vehicle traffic, the ferry business was incorporated as Sealink UK Limited on 1 January 1979,{{cite web |url = http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/01402237 |website = Companies House |title = Extract company no 1402237 |quote = Stena Line Limited formerly Stena Sealink Line Limited formerly Sealink Stena Line Limited formerly Sealink UK Limited }}{{cite magazine |title = Sealink UK Limited formed |magazine = Railway Magazine |issue = 935 |date = March 1979 |page = 111 }} a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Railways Board, but still part of the Sealink consortium. In 1979, Sealink acquired Manx Line, which offered services to the Isle of Man from Heysham.

On 27 July 1984, the UK Government sold Sealink UK to Sea Containers for £66{{nbsp}}million.{{cite magazine |title = The Great British Rail Sale is Over |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1152 |date = April 1997 |pages = 24–25 }} The company was renamed Sealink British Ferries. The sale excluded the operations of Hoverspeed, the Isle of Wight services and the share in the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, as well as the Port of Heysham.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} In 1996, the Sealink name disappeared when the UK services, by then owned by Stena, were re-branded as Stena Line. The agreement with the SNCF on the Dover to Calais route also ended at this time, and the French-run Sealink services were rebranded as SeaFrance.

{{Main|Seaspeed}}

The joint hovercraft services of British Rail in association with the French SNCF.{{cite web |url = http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1981/fulltext/138c03.pdf |title = Chapter 3: British Rail Hovercraft Ltd |website = Competition Commission |url-status = usurped |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050302103859/http://www.competition-commission/rep_pub/reports/1981/fulltext/138c03.pdf |archive-date = 2 March 2005}} British Rail Hovercraft Limited was established in 1965, under authority given to it by the British Railways Act 1967 and started its first service in 1966. Seaspeed started cross-Channel services from Dover to Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, France using SR-N4 hovercraft in August 1968.{{cite web |date=6 March 2006 |title=Hovercraft |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southeast/series9/week_nine.shtml |publisher=BBC}}{{Cite book |last=D. G. |first=Williams |title=An examination of the application of corporate planning in the four major organisations within the nationalised transport sector in the United Kingdom with special attention to the British Railways Board. PhD Thesis. |publisher=University of Bath |year=1981 |location=Bath |pages=190}} During 1981, Seaspeed merged with rival cross-channel hovercraft operator Hoverlloyd to create the combined Hoverspeed.{{cite web |url = https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11186344 |title = Merger of British Rail Hovercraft Ltd and Hoverlloyd Ltd to form Hoverspeed UK Ltd |publisher = The National Archives, Kew |date = 1 November 1981}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.mmc.gov.uk/rep_pub/reports/1981/fulltext/138c01.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 August 2007 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072939/http://www.mmc.gov.uk/rep_pub/reports/1981/fulltext/138c01.pdf |url-status=dead }}

{{Main|British Rail Engineering Limited}}

File:British Rail Engineering Limited Logo 2.png

Incorporated on 31 October 1969, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was a wholly owned railway systems engineering subsidiary of the British Railways Board. Created through the Transport Act 1968, to manage BR's thirteen workshops, it replaced the British Rail Workshops Division, which had existed since 1948. The works managed by BREL were Ashford, Crewe, Derby Locomotive Works, Derby Litchurch Lane, Doncaster, Eastleigh, Glasgow, Horwich Foundry, Shildon, Swindon, Temple Mills, Wolverton and York.{{cite web |url = https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/ap96/british-rail-engineering-ltd |title = British Rail Engineering Ltd |website = Science Museum Group Collection |language = en-gb |access-date = 23 February 2020}} BREL began trading in January 1970.{{cite magazine |title = British Rail Engineering Limited formed |magazine = Railway Gazette |date = 5 December 1969 |page = 882 }} During 1989, BREL was sold to a consortium of Asea Brown Boveri and Trafalgar House.{{cite magazine |title = Buyer for BREL |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1955 |date = March 1989 |page = 143 }}{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaybritain.co.uk/british%20rail%20workshops.html |title = British Rail Workshops |work = railwaybritain.co.uk |access-date = 2 August 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100412011049/http://www.railwaybritain.co.uk/british%20rail%20workshops.html |archive-date = 12 April 2010|url-status = usurped}}

{{Main|British Railways Mark 2}}

A family of railway carriages designed and built by British Rail workshops (from 1969 British Rail Engineering Limited) between 1964 and 1975. They were of steel construction.

{{Main|Advanced Passenger Train}}

File:Apt 370004 - euston - 13-02-1980.jpg departs Euston for Glasgow.]]

In the 1970s, British Rail developed tilting train technology in the Advanced Passenger Train; there had been earlier experiments and prototypes in other countries, notably Italy.{{cite web |url = https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/tilting/ |title = Tilting Trains |website = Railway Technology |language = en-GB |access-date = 25 April 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190425142333/https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/tilting/ |archive-date = 25 April 2019 |url-status = live}} The objective of the tilt was to minimise the discomfort to passengers caused by taking the curves of the West Coast Main Line at high speed. The APT also had hydrokinetic brakes, which enabled the train to stop from 150 mph within existing signal spacings.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=87 |title = Tomorrow's Train, Today |author = British Railways Board |year = 1980 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = British Railways Board |page = 18 |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070820044056/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=87 |archive-date = 20 August 2007 |url-status = live}} (Promotional leaflet)

The introduction into service of the APT was to be a three-stage project. Phase 1, the development of an experimental APT (APT-E), was completed. This used a gas turbine-electric locomotive, the only multiple unit so powered that was used by British Rail. It was formed of two power cars (numbers PC1 and PC2), initially with nothing between them and later, two trailer cars (TC1 and TC2).{{cite web |url = http://www.old-dalby.com/apt-e.htm |title = E Train |work = The Old Dalby Test Track |access-date = 26 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070829065627/http://www.old-dalby.com/apt-e.htm |archive-date = 29 August 2007 |url-status = live }} The cars were made of aluminium to reduce the weight of the unit and were articulated. The gas turbine was dropped from development due to excessive noise and the high fuel costs of the late 1970s.{{cite web |url = http://www.northeast.railfan.net/pro_faq2.html#turbine |title = Diesel-Electric Engine Operation – NE Rails |access-date = 26 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070106163915/http://www.northeast.railfan.net/pro_faq2.html#turbine |archive-date = 6 January 2007 |url-status = live }} The APT-E first ran on 25 July 1971. The train drivers' union, ASLEF, black-listed the train due to its use of a single driver. The train was moved to Derby (with the aid of a locomotive inspector). This triggered a one-day strike by ASLEF that cost BR more than the research budget for the entire year.{{cite web |url = http://www.apt-p.com/APTWithHindsight.htm |title = APT – With Hindsight |access-date = 26 November 2006 |author=Alan Wickens |work = Prototype Advanced Passenger Train (APT-P.com)}}

Phase 2, the introduction of three prototype trains (APT-P) into revenue service on the Glasgow – London Euston route, did occur. Originally, there were to have been eight APT-P sets running, with minimal differences between them and the main fleet. However, financial constraints led to only three being authorised after two years of discussion by the British Railways Board. The cost was split equally between the Board and the Ministry of Transport. After these delays, considerable pressure grew to put the APT-P into revenue-service before they were fully ready. This inevitably led to high-profile failures as a result of technical problems.

These failures led to the trains being withdrawn from service while the problems were ironed out. However, by this time, managerial and political support had evaporated by 1982. Although the APT never properly entered service, the experience gained enabled the construction of other high-speed trains. The APT powercar technology was imported without the tilt into the design of the Class 91 locomotives, and the tilting technology was incorporated into Italian State Railway's Pendolino trains, which first entered service in 1987.

{{Main|InterCity 125}}

File:Intercity 125 original logo.svg

File:Intercity 125 2169045.jpg about to depart Manchester Piccadilly in 1986]]

The InterCity 125, or High-Speed Train, was a diesel-powered passenger train built by BREL between 1975 and 1982 that was credited with saving British Rail.{{Cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/5407016.stm |title = High Speed Train marks 30 years |date = 4 October 2006 |access-date = 23 July 2018 |language = en-GB |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180723214328/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/5407016.stm |archive-date = 23 July 2018 |url-status = live}} Each set is made up of two Class 43 power cars, one at each end and four to nine Mark 3 carriages. The name is derived from its top operational speed of {{convert|125|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}}. Key features of the Intercity 125 over predecessors include the high power-to-weight ratio of the locomotives (1678 kW per ~70-tonne loco), high performance disc brake system (in place of the clasp brakes traditionally used), improved crashworthiness, and bi-directional running avoiding the need to perform any run arounds at terminating stations.{{cite web |url=http://www.nrm.org.uk/OurCollection/LocomotivesAndRollingStock/CollectionItem.aspx?objid=1988-7000 |title=HST Power Car |publisher=National Railway Museum |access-date=18 May 2009 |archive-date=11 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131011100217/http://www.nrm.org.uk/OurCollection/LocomotivesAndRollingStock/CollectionItem.aspx?objid=1988-7000 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last = Marsden |first = Colin |publisher = Ian Allan |year = 2001 |title = HST: Silver Jubilee |page = foreword |isbn = 0-7110-2847-8}}

By 1970, the setbacks of the APT project had led the British Railways Board (BRB) to conclude that a stopgap solution would be desirably to reduce journey times in order to compete effectively with other modes of transport. At the instigation of Terry Miller, Chief Engineer (Traction & Rolling Stock), the BRB authorised the development of a high-speed diesel train using tried and tested conventional technology, intended for short-term use until the APT was available.Marsden 2001, pp. 10–11. Within two years, a prototype trainset had been completed by BREL; it performed extensive trial runs between 1972 and 1976.Marsden, pp. 15–16.

Encouraged by the prototype's performance, British Rail chose to put the type into production. The production version had a substantially redesigned forward section; this change was primarily made by the British industrial designer Kenneth Grange who, after being approached by British Rail to design the livery, decided to redesign the body in coordination with an aerodynamic engineer and guided by wind tunnel testing.{{cite web |title=How we made the InterCity 125 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/09/how-we-made-intercity-125 |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 June 2022 |date=9 September 2013}}Channel 5 documentary Intercity 125 episode 1, broadcast 15 May 2018{{cite news |url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2221b178-87f6-11e0-a6de-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1VgPEvCdV |title= Everywhere and Nowhere |newspaper= Financial Times |location= London |date=27 May 2011 |access-date=21 August 2011}} A total of 95 Intercity 125 trainsets were ultimately brought into service.{{cite book |last1=Semmens |first1=Peter |title=Speed On The East Coast Main Line: A Century and a Half of Accelerated Services |date=1990 |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |isbn=0-85059-930-X |pages=129–225}}{{cite web |title=Trackside Classic: 1976 British Rail Inter City 125 High Speed Train – Still Setting The Standard |date=18 October 2021 |url=https://www.curbsideclassic.com/trackside-classic/trackside-classic-1976-british-rail-inter-city-125-high-speed-train-still-setting-the-standard/ |publisher=Curbside Classic |access-date=30 March 2022}} British Rail enjoyed a boom in patronage on the routes operated by the HSTs and InterCity's revenues noticeably increased.{{cite book |last = Harris |first = Sim |publisher = Ian Allan |year = 2016 |title = The Railway Dilemma |page = 16 |isbn = 978-0-7110-3835-6 }}

Prior to the HST's introduction, the speed of British diesel-powered trains was limited to {{convert|100|mph|km/h|0|abbr=on}}.{{cite journal |title=High speed track on the Western Region of British Railways |last= Collins |first=R.J. |volume=64 |issue=2 |date=May 1978 |pages=207–225 |journal=Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers |url=http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/iicep.1978.2755 |doi=10.1680/iicep.1978.2755 |publisher= Institution of Civil Engineers |access-date = 2 October 2015}} The prototype InterCity 125 (power cars 43000 and 43001) set the world speed record for diesel traction at {{convert|143.2|mph|abbr=on}} on 12 June 1973.{{cite web |url = http://www.traintesting.com/HST_prototype.htm |title = Testing the prototype HST in 1973 |publisher = traintesting.com |access-date = 29 April 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090915204316/http://www.traintesting.com/HST_prototype.htm |archive-date = 15 September 2009 }} This was succeeded by a production set reaching {{convert|148.5|mph|abbr=on}} in November 1987.{{cite magazine |title = World speed record smashed |magazine = Rail |issue = 76 |date = January 1988 |page = 5 }}

{{Main|Sprinter (British Rail)}}

File:150001 pancras.jpg

By the early 1980s British Rail operated a large fleet of first generation DMUs, which had been constructed in prior decades to various designs. While formulating its long-term strategy for this sector of its operations, British Rail planners recognised that there would be considerable costs incurred by undertaking refurbishment programmes necessary for the continued use of these ageing multiple units, particularly due to the necessity of handling and removing hazardous materials such as asbestos. In light of the high costs involved in retention, planners examined the prospects for the development and introduction of a new generation of DMUs to succeed the first generation.{{cite journal |last1 = Shore |first1 = A. G. L. |title = British Rail Diesel Multiple Unit Replacement Programme |journal = Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Transport Engineering |date = April 1987 |volume = 201 |issue = 2 |pages = 115–122 |doi = 10.1243/PIME_PROC_1987_201_165_02 |s2cid = 109194039 }}

In 1984/1985, two experimental DMU designs were put into service: the BREL-built Class 150 and Metro-Cammell-built Class 151.{{cite book |first = Brian |last = Morrison |year = 1986 |title = Motive Power Annual 1987 |publisher = Ian Allan |location = Shepperton |isbn = 0-7110-1635-6 |display-authors = etal}} Both of these used hydraulic transmission and were less bus-like than the Pacers. After trials, the Class 150 was selected for production. Starting in 1987, production standard units entered service. Reliability was much improved by the new units, with depot visits being reduced from two or three times per week to fortnightly.

The late 1980s and early 1990s also saw the development of secondary express services that complemented the mainline Intercity routes. Class 155 and Class 156 Sprinters were developed to replace locomotive-hauled trains on these services, their interiors being designed with longer distance journeys in mind.{{cite magazine |title = The Class 156 Super Sprinter story |magazine = Today's Railways UK |issue = 87 (March 2009) |pages = 44–56}} Key Scottish and Trans-Pennine routes were upgraded with new Class 158 Express Sprinters, while a network of 'Alphaline' services was introduced elsewhere in the country.{{cite magazine |title = Crack 158 services to be marketed as Alphaline |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1123 |date = November 1994 |page = 10}}

By the end of the 1980s, passenger numbers had increased and costs had been reduced to two-and-a-half times revenue. Specific areas for this cost reduction include the lower fuel consumption of Sprinters in comparison to traditional locomotive-hauled trains as well as their reduced maintenance costs.

File:GBR rail passengers by year 1830-2023.png

File:UK total rail subsidies 1986-2015.png

{{Main|Privatisation of British Rail|Impact of the privatisation of British Rail}}

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, in accordance with the Railways Act 1993, the core activities of British Rail were privatised.{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=12 |title = Railways Act 1993 |author = Her Majesty's Government |year = 1903 |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office |access-date = 26 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060520015332/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=12 |archive-date = 20 May 2006 |url-status = live }}{{cite web |publisher = House of Commons Library |url = http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01157/SN01157.pdf |title = Railways: privatisation, 1987-1996 |date = 18 March 2010 |first = Louise |last = Butcher}} Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994. Passenger operations were later franchised to 25 private-sector operators.{{cite journal |url = https://www.socresonline.org.uk/7/1/strangleman.html |first = Tim |last = Strangleman |date = 2002 |title = Nostalgia for Nationalisation – the Politics of Privatisation |journal = Sociological Research Online |volume = 7 |number = 1 |pages = 92–105 |doi = 10.5153/sro.701 |s2cid = 144684740 |access-date = 5 December 2022 |archive-date = 5 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221205024644/https://www.socresonline.org.uk/7/1/strangleman.html |url-status = live }}{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/982037.stm |title = The great train sell-off: Who dunnit? |work = BBC News |date = 20 October 2000 |access-date = 5 December 2022 |archive-date = 5 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221205033050/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/982037.stm |url-status = live }} Of the six freight companies, five were sold to Wisconsin Central to form EWS while Freightliner was sold in a management buyout.{{cite web |url = http://www.ews-railway.co.uk/about/history.html |title = EWS Railway—Company History |access-date = 26 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060930234359/http://www.ews-railway.co.uk/about/history.html |archive-date = 30 September 2006}}{{cite news |title = Secretary of State for Transport - Written Answers |url = https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199697/cmhansrd/vo961127/text/61127w12.htm |publisher = Hansard |date = 27 November 1996}}

File:Waterloo-city-1992.jpg was part of Network SouthEast.]]

The Waterloo & City line, part of Network SouthEast, was not included in the privatisation and was transferred to London Underground in April 1994.{{cite magazine |title = LUL to take over the Drain |magazine = Modern Railways |issue = 547 |date = April 1994 |page = 201 }} The remaining obligations of British Rail were transferred to BRB (Residuary) Limited.{{cite magazine |title = BRB Residuary axed as Government cuts back on Quangos |magazine = Rail Express |issue = 175 |date = December 2012 |page = 10}}

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,{{cite news |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/blair-softpedals-over-reversing-br-privatisation-1567308.html |title = Blair soft-pedals over reversing BR privatisation |first = Donald |last = Macintyre |date = 10 January 1995 |newspaper = The Independent |access-date = 25 August 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150925155237/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/blair-softpedals-over-reversing-br-privatisation-1567308.html |archive-date = 25 September 2015 |url-status = live }} the New Labour manifesto of 1997 instead opposed Conservative plans to privatise the London Underground.{{cite web |url = http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1997/1997-labour-manifesto.shtml |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020821164207/http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1997/1997-labour-manifesto.shtml |url-status = dead |archive-date = 21 August 2002 |at = Railways |title = Labour Party Manifesto |year = 1997 |work = labour-party.org.uk (website unaffiliated with the official Labour Party)}} Rail unions have historically opposed privatisation, but former Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen general secretary Lew Adams moved to work for Virgin Rail Group, 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."{{cite web |url = http://www.pppcouncil.ca/pdf/cknw.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130625153929/http://pppcouncil.ca/pdf/cknw.pdf |archive-date = 25 June 2013 |title = TRANSCRIPT FROM THE BILL GOOD SHOW, CKNW RADIO, VANCOUVER – Interview with Lew Adams, Board Member, Strategic Rail Authority, UK |date = 26 November 2004 |publisher = Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships website |type = transcript |url-status = dead }}{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_company_file/196210.stm |title = Union boss hops on board Virgin |work = BBC News |date = 19 October 1998 |access-date = 22 September 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170831121820/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_company_file/196210.stm |archive-date = 31 August 2017 |url-status = live }}

The privatisation process began in 1994 when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 shadow franchises.{{cite web |date = 18 March 2010 |title = Railways: privatisation, 1987-1996 |url = http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/snbt-01157.pdf |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101013201522/http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/snbt-01157.pdf |archive-date = 13 October 2010 |access-date = 14 September 2010 |publisher = House of Commons Library |page = 10}} These were publicly owned TOCs operating in the planned franchise areas, prior to the actual franchises being put to tender.

In advance of the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994, European Passenger Services was created as the BR division responsible for the UK component of Eurostar international services.{{Cite web |title = European Passenger Services Limited |url = https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02461708 |access-date = 19 January 2024 |website = Companies House}}

{{See also|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date|Privatisation of British Rail|Impact of the privatisation of British Rail}}

Under the process of British Rail's privatisation, operations were split into 125 companies between 1994 and 1997.{{cite magazine |title = Total number of businesses into which BR was split - 125 |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1153 |date = May 1997 |page = 12 }} 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.{{cite magazine |title = Rush of sales as BR auction reaches climax |magazine = Railway Gazette International |date = January 1996 |page = 15 }} The rolling stock was transferred to three private rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); Angel Trains, Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook.{{cite magazine |title = ROSCOs sold for £1,699.5m |magazine = Rail Privatisation News |issue = 18 |date = 16 November 1995 |page = 1 }} 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.{{cite magazine |title = British Rail operates final trains |magazine = Rail Express |issue = 13 June 1997 |page = 12 }} The final service it operated was a Railfreight Distribution freight train from Dollands Moor to Wembley on 20 November 1997.{{cite magazine |title = Farewell to BR as EWS finally takes over |magazine = Today's Railways UK |issue = 25 |date = January 1998 |page = 9 }} 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.{{cite web |url = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/38/contents |title = Transport Act 2000 |publisher = Government of the United Kingdom |date = 2000}}

The original passenger franchisees were:{{cite magazine |title = The Great British Rail Sale is Over |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1152 |date = April 1997 |pages = 24, 25 }}

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

• 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

{{Div col end}}

{{See also|Renationalisation of British Rail}}

Since privatisation, many groups have campaigned for the renationalisation of UK Rail services, most notably 'Bring Back British Rail'.{{cite web |url = https://www.ellieharrison.com/jeremyvine/ |title = Should we bring back British Rail? |date = 20 September 2018 |website = ellieharrison.com }} Various interested parties also have views on the privatisation of British Rail.

File:Bring Back British Rail logo.jpg

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.{{cite news |url = http://www.globalrailnews.com/2012/09/13/70-want-end-to-rail-privatisation/ |title = 70% want end to rail privatisation |date = 13 September 2012 |work = globalrailnews.com |access-date = 5 June 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140716203326/http://www.globalrailnews.com/2012/09/13/70-want-end-to-rail-privatisation/ |archive-date = 16 July 2014 |url-status = dead }}{{cite news |last1 = Merrick |first1 = Jane |title = Jeremy Corbyn reveals first official policy: To renationalise the railways |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-reveals-first-official-policy-to-renationalise-the-railways-10509504.html |website = The Independent |access-date = 5 May 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170424075329/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-reveals-first-official-policy-to-renationalise-the-railways-10509504.html |archive-date = 24 April 2017 |url-status = live }}

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.{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/10709868/Budget-2014-fears-of-more-austerity-in-spite-of-growth.html#source=refresh |title = Budget 2014: fears of more austerity in spite of growth |work = The Daily Telegraph |date = 19 March 2014 |access-date = 20 May 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140621005742/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/10709868/Budget-2014-fears-of-more-austerity-in-spite-of-growth.html#source=refresh |archive-date = 21 June 2014 |url-status = live }}

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.{{cite web |url = https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2016/01/22/caroline-lucas-mp-brings-railway-bill-to-parliament/ |title = Caroline Lucas MP brings Railway Bill to Parliament |date = 22 January 2016 |website = The Green Party |access-date = 9 June 2019}}

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".{{cite news |last1 = Elgot |first1 = Jessica |title = Corbyn to launch transport campaign with rail pledges |url = https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/16/corbyn-to-launch-transport-campaign-with-rail-pledges |work = The Guardian |access-date = 5 May 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170705224321/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/16/corbyn-to-launch-transport-campaign-with-rail-pledges |archive-date = 5 July 2017 |url-status = live }} 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.{{cite news |url = https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-396843 |title = Keir Starmer promises to abolish tuition fees and nationalise industries if he becomes PM |newspaper = i |first = Hugo |last = Gye |date = 11 February 2020 }} This was further outlined in April 2024 when the party announced that a Labour government would transfer passenger rail networks to public ownership within its first term.{{cite news |last1=Corbett |first1=Helen |title=Labour pledge to renationalise railways within five years |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/renationalise-railways-labour-election-starmer-b2534505.html |access-date=29 April 2024 |work=The Independent |date=25 April 2024 |language=en}} After Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, the incoming government began the process of bringing all remaining privatised railway franchises into public ownership at the earliest opportunity as contracts expire with the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024.

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.{{cite magazine |url = https://www.railjournal.com/policy/british-government-announces-plans-for-major-railway-sector-reform/ |title = British government announces plans for major railway sector reform |magazine = International Railway Journal |date = 20 May 2021 }} In 2024, the government announced that management of publicly owned passenger rail services would be integrated into GBR.{{Cite web |title=First train services to return to public ownership revealed |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-train-services-to-return-to-public-ownership-revealed |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

In 1989, the ITV sketch show Spitting Image parodied Hugh Hudson's 1988 British Rail, Britain's Railway advert on the plans of the then Conservative British Government to privatise the railways featuring many of the show's puppets (including the show's portrayal of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), numerous BR trains and landmarks and even a cardboard cutout of Thomas the Tank Engine.{{cite AV media |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcBRHC9MV0 |title = Britain's Railway |date = 20 November 2009 |via = YouTube |access-date = 26 May 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140415210111/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcBRHC9MV0 |archive-date = 15 April 2014 |url-status = live }}

• History of rail transport in Great Britain
• Impact of the privatisation of British Rail

• British Rail brand names
• British Rail corporate liveries
• List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom

• British carriage and wagon numbering and classification
• British Rail locomotive and multiple unit numbering and classification
• List of British Rail classes

• List of British Railways steam locomotives as of 31 December 1967
• List of LMS locomotives as of 31 December 1947
• List of LNER locomotives as of 31 December 1947

• British Rail flying saucer
• British Rail sandwich
• British Transport Films
• British Transport Police
• Channel Tunnel
• {{anli|Great British Railways}}
• National Association of Railway Clubs
• Rail transport in Great Britain
• The wrong type of snow

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1 = Height |first1 = Frank |last2 = Cresswell |first2 = Roy |title = Design for Passenger Transport |date = 1979 |publisher = Pergamon |isbn = 978-1-4831-5309-4 |page = 118 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7swgBQAAQBAJ&q=british%20rail%20liveries&pg=PA118 |access-date = 11 September 2015 }}
• {{cite book |last1 = Jackson |first1 = Tanya |title = British Railways: The Nation's Railway |date = 2013 |publisher = The History Press |location = Stroud |isbn = 978-0-7524-9742-6 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jcc7AwAAQBAJ&q=british%20rail%20ferret%20dartboard&pg=PT120 |access-date = 11 September 2015 |chapter = 6: In Search of an Identity }}
• {{Cite book |title=HST Silver Jubilee |last1=Marsden |first1=Colin |publisher=Ian Allan Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=0-711028-47-8}}

• {{cite book |last = Brady |first = Robert A. |title = Crisis in Britain. Plans and Achievements of the Labour Government |url = https://archive.org/details/crisisinbritainp0000brad |url-access = registration |year = 1950 |publisher = University of California Press}}, on nationalization 1945–50, pp 236–83
• {{cite journal |last = Smith |first = Lewis Charles |title = Marketing modernity: Business and family in British Rail's "Age of the Train" campaign, 1979–84 |journal = The Journal of Transport History' |volume = 40 |number = 3 |date = 2019 |pages = 363–394|doi = 10.1177/0022526619848549 |s2cid = 182020681 }}

{{Commons and category|British Railways and British Rail|British Rail}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030402102753/http://ndad.ulcc.ac.uk/datasets/AH/britrail.htm British Railways Board history]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040105005301/http://www.brb.gov.uk/ BRB (Residuary) Ltd.]
• [https://mrc.epexio.com/records/BRB Catalogue of the BR Technical Research Department archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

{{British Rail}}

{{National railway companies of Europe}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:British companies established in 1948

Category:Defunct railway companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom

Category:Railway companies established in 1948

Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1997

Category:1948 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1997 disestablishments in the United Kingdom