Railtrack

Railtrack started work on 1 April 1994, having taken over the infrastructure responsibilities of the British Railways Board.

Privatisation gathered pace in 1995, and the first passenger franchises were signed in December, to start in February 1996.

Railtrack plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange on 20 May.

The new company embarked on a major modernisation of the West Coast Main Line, but costs rose and some aspects of the plans, including the installation of digital signalling, failed.

Railtrack was also frequently criticised by Rail Regulator Tom Winsor over the management of its finances, but there had already been friction between Railtrack and one of Mr Winsor’s predecessors, the first regulator John Swift QC, who issued a press release on 11 November 1998 entitled ‘The Rail Regulator tells Railtrack to sort out its own problems first rather than lecturing the rest of the industry on theirs’.

On 17 October 2000 a northbound GNER train was catastrophically derailed at Hatfield, because a rail had disintegrated beneath it, caused by ‘gauge corner cracking’ (metal fatigue). Four passengers were killed. The following day Railtrack Chief Executive Gerald Corbett offered to resign. In the event, he did not do so immediately, but he did leave on 17 November. Railtrack imposed widespread speed restrictions as a precaution, which caused serious disruption for several months.

Railtrack was also failing to convince other organisations in the industry. Following the Hatfield accident the Association of Train Operating Companies issued a press release on 8 November 2000 entitled ‘Railtrack is wrong’, which disputed a statement in a speech by Gerald Corbett in which he had said Railtrack had ‘no say’ in the design or specification of trains.

As a result of an earlier collision at Ladbroke Grove on 5 October 1999, in which 31 people had died, safety responsibilities were transferred from Railtrack to a new independent body in late 2000, which is now the Rail Safety and Standards Board.

John Robinson became Chairman of Railtrack on 2 July 2001. On 24 July, he told the Annual General Meeting : ‘I have watched in some amazement as key stakeholders in the railways have squabbled in public. We have been to blame as have others, but let me make clear that in future the industry has to work together. Negotiating and criticising in public is not helpful.’

By now, Railtrack’s financial problems had become critical. John Robinson asked for help at the start of October, but Railtrack plc was placed in Railway Administration on 7 October 2001.

Railtrack Chief Executive Steve Marshall announced his resignation on 8 October. He said: ‘Government’s treatment of my company, and its shareholders, has been shoddy and unacceptable. Commitments, whether financial or otherwise, are made to be kept not broken.’

Railtrack had been replaced by a new ‘not for dividend’ body, Network Rail, by October 2002.

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