13 January 2026

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6

nationalised BR profit centres

replaced
< InterCity
< Network SouthEast
< Regional Railways

was replaced by
(see links below) >

start date
1 April 1994
end date
31 March 1997

owned by
British Railways Board

legal title
(various)

description
After the Railways Act 1993 had been passed, the British Railways Board was instructed to create 25 train operating units or TOUs, each one being based on a profit centre within its three passenger businesses InterCity, Network SouthEast and Regional Railways.

InterCity
CrossCountry
Gatwick Express
InterCity East Coast
InterCity Great Western
InterCity Midland Main Line
InterCity West Coast

Network SouthEast
Chiltern Lines
Great Eastern
Isle of Wight
LTS Rail
Network SouthCentral
North London Railways
South Eastern
South West Trains
Thameslink
Thames Trains
West Anglia Great Northern

Regional Railways
Anglia
Cardiff Valleys
Merseyrail Electrics
Regional Railways Central
Regional Railways North East
Regional Railways North West
South Wales and West
ScotRail

These profit centres were successively converted into ‘shadow franchises’ before being offered to the market.

The franchises were then acquired by the private sector, and started operating between February 1996 and March 1997.

The last franchise to take over from BR was ScotRail (31 March 1997), and from this date the British Railways Board ceased to be responsible for passenger services.

service area
All British Railways Board routes (England, Scotland and Wales)

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