Editing Rail transport in Great Britain (section)

==Historical overview==
[[File:Britain and Ireland railway map 2023.pdf|thumb|Current railway lines in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the [[Isle of Man]] are shown in black, metro lines in red, and former routes in green]]
[[File:GBR rail passengers by year 1830-2023.png|thumb|Rail passengers in Great Britain from 1829 to 2023, showing the early era of small railway companies, the amalgamation into the "[[Railways Act 1921|Big Four]]", nationalisation and finally the current era of privatisation]]
{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain}}

According to historians David Brandon and Alan Brooke, the railways brought into being our modern world:
:They stimulated demand for building materials, coal, iron and, later, steel. Excelling in the bulk movement of coal, they provided the fuel for the furnaces of industry and for domestic fireplaces. Millions of people were able to travel who had scarcely ever travelled before. Railways enabled mail, newspapers, periodicals and cheap literature to be distributed easily, quickly and cheaply allowing a much wider and faster dissemination of ideas and information. They had a significant impact on improving diet....[and enabled] a proportionately smaller agricultural industry was able to feed a much larger urban population....They employed huge quantities of labour both directly and indirectly. They helped Britain to become the 'Workshop of the World' by reducing transport costs not only of raw materials but of finished goods, large amounts of which were exported....[T]oday's global corporations originated with the great limited liability railway companies....By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, there was scarcely any person living in Britain whose life had not been altered in some way by the coming of the railways. Railways contributed to the transformation of Britain from a rural to a predominantly urban society.<ref>Brandon and Brooke, ''Railway Haters'' (2019) p. 10</ref>

The railways started with the local isolated wooden wagonways in 1560s using horses. These wagonways then spread, particularly in mining areas. The system was later built as a patchwork of local lines operated by small private railway companies. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, these amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained (see [[Railway Mania]]). The entire network was brought under government control during the [[First World War]] and a number of advantages of amalgamation and planning were revealed. However, the government resisted calls for the [[nationalisation]] of the network (first proposed by 19th century Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] as early as the 1830s). Instead, from 1 January 1923, almost all the remaining companies were [[Railways Act 1921|grouped]] into the "big four": the [[Great Western Railway]], the [[London and North Eastern Railway]], the [[London Midland and Scottish Railway]] and the [[Southern Railway (UK)|Southern Railway]] companies (there were also a number of other [[joint railway]]s such as the [[Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway]] and the [[Cheshire Lines Committee]] as well as special joint railways such as the [[Forth Bridge]] Railway, [[Ryde Pier]] Railway and at one time the [[East London Railway]]). The "Big Four" were joint-stock public companies and they continued to run the railway system until 31 December 1947.

The growth in road transport during the 1920s and 1930s greatly reduced revenue for the rail companies. Rail companies accused the government of favouring road haulage through the subsidised construction of roads. The railways entered a slow decline owing to a lack of investment and changes in transport policy and lifestyles. During [[World War II]], the companies' managements joined, effectively forming one company. A maintenance backlog developed during the war and the private sector only had two years to deal with this after the war ended. After 1945, for both practical and ideological reasons, the government decided to bring the rail service into the [[public sector]].

===Nationalisation===
{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994}}
From the start of 1948, the "big four" were [[nationalised]] to form British Railways (latterly [[British Rail]]) under the control of the [[British Transport Commission]]. Although BR was a single entity, it was divided into six (later five) regional authorities in accordance with the existing areas of operation. Though there were few initial changes to the service, usage increased and the network became profitable. Regeneration of track and railway stations was completed by 1954. In the same year, changes to the British Transport Commission, including the privatisation of road haulage, ended the coordination of transport in Great Britain. Rail revenue fell and in 1955 the network again ceased to be profitable. The mid-1950s saw the rapid introduction of diesel and electric rolling stock, but the expected transfer back from road to rail did not occur and losses began to mount.

The desire for profitability led to a major reduction in the network during the mid-1960s, with [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]] manager Dr. [[Richard Beeching]] commissioned by the government under [[Ernest Marples]] with reorganising the railways. Many branch lines (and a number of main lines) were closed because they were deemed uneconomic ("the [[Beeching Axe]]" of 1963), removing much feeder traffic from main line passenger services. In the second Beeching report of 1965, only the "major trunk routes" were selected for large-scale investment, leading many to speculate the rest of the network would eventually be closed. This was never implemented by BR.

Passenger services experienced a renaissance with the introduction of the [[InterCity 125]] trains in the 1970s. Passenger levels fluctuated since then, increasing during periods of economic growth and falling during recessions. The 1980s saw severe cuts in government funding and above-inflation increases in fares,<ref>{{cite book|title=British Rail 1974–1997: From Integration to Privatisation |last=Gourvish |first=Terry |page=277}}</ref> In the early 1990s, the five geographical Regions were replaced by a Sectored organisation, in which passenger services were organised into [[InterCity (British Rail)|InterCity]], [[Network SouthEast]] and [[Regional Railways]] sectors.

===Reorganisation and privatisation===
{{Main|Privatisation of British Rail|Impact of the privatisation of British Rail|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date}}
The Railways Act 1993<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/43/contents |title=Railways Act 1993 |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-date=3 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103114707/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/43/contents |url-status=live }}</ref> divided the railways up, with [[Railtrack]] taking ownership of British Rail's property portfolio, tracks, signals, bridges and tunnels, Rolling Stock Operating Companies, and train operating companies.

Passenger transport services were bundled together into franchises to facilitate cross-subsidy within franchises, with many regulations on ticket prices and types, regulated fare increases and "Parliamentary service" obligations. Companies submit bids to the franchising authority - often the Secretary of State for Transport, Passenger Transport Authority, or devolved government - competing for the lowest subsidy requirement and to invest in the railway over the lifespan of the franchise. There is also provision for subsidy between franchises, with profitable franchises demanding payments made to the government to cover a share of the losses from others. Examples of franchises include [[ScotRail]], [[Greater Western franchise|Great Western]], and [[Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise|Southern Trains]].

Open Access Operators are entirely free to set their own services and fares unaffected by government regulations. Examples of such operators are [[Lumo (train operating company)|Lumo]] and [[Grand Central (train operating company)|Grand Central]], [[Hull Trains]] and [[Heathrow Express]]. In the case of the [[InterCity West Coast]] and [[InterCity East Coast]] franchises, applicants submit bids to return the most money to the government from operating the service. This has led to franchisees collapsing when passenger growth targets are not met as promised payments to the government cannot be paid and the franchise is exited early.

In 2023, Network Rail held over £59.1{{nbsp}}billion in debt, and £1.176{{nbsp}}billion interest payments.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Network-Rail-Annual-Report-and-Accounts-2023.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-date=26 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230826235603/https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Network-Rail-Annual-Report-and-Accounts-2023.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of these debts were incurred by Railtrack and transferred to Network Rail when it collapsed.

[[Privatisation of British Rail|British Rail operations were privatised]] during 1994–1997. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to [[Railtrack]], whilst passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators (originally there were 25 franchises) and the goods services sold outright (six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer). The government said privatisation would see an improvement in passenger services and satisfaction (according to the National Rail Passenger survey) has indeed gone up from 76% in 1999 (when the survey started) to 83% in 2013 and the number of passengers not satisfied with their journey dropped from 10% to 6%.<ref name=gbraildataset19978>{{cite web|url=http://www.atoc.org/download/clientfiles/files/Rail%20industry%20dataset%20-RDG%20-%20with%20cover.pdf|title=GB rail: Dataset on financial and operational performance 1997–98 – 2012–13|access-date=4 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706124300/http://www.atoc.org/download/clientfiles/files/Rail%20industry%20dataset%20-RDG%20-%20with%20cover.pdf|archive-date=6 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Since privatisation, passenger levels have more than doubled, and have surpassed their level in the late 1940s. Train fares cost 2.7% more than under British Rail in real terms on average.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news |title= Have train fares gone up or down since British Rail? |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21056703 |access-date= 2 August 2015 |date= 22 January 2013 |work= BBC News |archive-date= 14 March 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180314152818/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21056703 |url-status= live }}</ref> However, while the price of anytime and off-peak tickets has increased, the price of Advance tickets has dramatically decreased in real terms: the average Advance ticket in 1995 cost £9.14 (in 2014 prices) compared to £5.17 in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stagecoach.com/media/insight-features/the-facts-about-rail-fares.aspx|title=The facts about rail fares – Stagecoach Group|website=stagecoach.com|access-date=2 October 2016|archive-date=31 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331172014/http://www.stagecoach.com/media/insight-features/the-facts-about-rail-fares.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Rail fatalities of European countries.png|thumb|Rail fatalities per billion passenger-km in European countries during 2013.]]
[[Rail subsidies]] have increased from £{{Inflation|UK|2.2|2011|r=1|cursign=£}}bn in 1992–93 to £{{Inflation|UK|3.2|2015|r=1|cursign=£}}bn in 2015–16 (in current prices), although subsidy per journey has fallen from £{{Inflation|UK|2.97|2011|r=2|cursign=£}} per journey to £{{Inflation|UK|1.86|2015|r=2|cursign=£}} per journey.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" /><ref name="orr.gov.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/24149/uk-rail-industry-financial-information-2015-16.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/24149/uk-rail-industry-financial-information-2015-16.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Rail industry financial information 2015–16 {{!}} Office of Rail and Road|date=21 February 2017 |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom|access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> However, this masks great regional variation, as in 2014–15 funding varied from "£1.41 per passenger journey in England to £6.51 per journey in Scotland and £8.34 per journey in Wales."<ref name="orr.gov.uk" />

The public image of rail travel was severely damaged by a series of significant accidents after privatisation. These included the [[Hatfield rail crash|Hatfield accident]], caused by a rail fragmenting due to the development of microscopic cracks. Following this, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated an extremely costly nationwide track replacement programme. The consequent severe operational disruption to the national network and the company's spiralling costs set in motion [[Tom Winsor#Rail Regulator 1999–2004|a series of events]] which resulted in the collapse of the company and its replacement with [[Network Rail]], a state-owned,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/717.aspx|title=Our Legal and Financial Structure: How are we regulated|publisher=Network Rail|access-date=25 January 2011|archive-date=5 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605164808/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/717.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> "not-for-profit" company, with risks underwritten by the taxpayer. According to the [[European Railway Agency]], in 2013 Britain had the safest railways in Europe based on the number of train safety incidents.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/25/how-safe-are-europe-railways |title= How safe are Europe's railways? |newspaper= The Guardian |location= London |date= 25 July 2013 |author= Sedghi, Ami |access-date= 16 December 2016 |archive-date= 17 May 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160517035019/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/25/how-safe-are-europe-railways |url-status= live }}</ref>

At the end of September 2003, the first part of [[High Speed 1]], a high-speed link to the [[Channel Tunnel]] and onward to France and Belgium, was completed, significantly adding to the rail infrastructure of the country. The rest of the link, from north Kent to [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras]] opened in 2007. A major programme of remedial work on the [[West Coast Main Line]] started in 1997 and finished in 2008.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7782085.stm |title=West Coast rail works completed |work=BBC News |date=14 December 2008 |access-date=30 October 2018 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816134332/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7782085.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the 2010s, many upgrades have been under way, such as [[Thameslink]], [[Crossrail]], the [[Northern Hub]] and electrification of the [[Great Western Main Line]]. Electrification plans for the [[Midland Main Line]] and the [[Huddersfield line|Transpennine line]] between Manchester and Leeds have been scaled back. Construction of [[High Speed 2]] is underway, with a projected completion date of 2026 for Phase 1 (London to Birmingham) and 2033 for Phase 2. A poll of 1,500 adults in Britain in June 2018 showed that 64% support renationalising Britain's railways.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://fullfact.org/economy/do-public-want-railways-renationalised/ |title= Do the public want the railways renationalised? |date= 14 June 2018 |website= Full Fact |access-date= 15 August 2019 |archive-date= 15 August 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190815000322/https://fullfact.org/economy/do-public-want-railways-renationalised/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

=== Renationalisation ===

{{Main|Great British Railways|Transport for Wales Rail|ScotRail}}
{{See also|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date#Timeline of upgrades|l1=Timeline of future rail network upgrades in Great Britain}}
{{See also|List of railway lines in Great Britain|Rail transport in Wales}}

Currently, six franchises are under public ownership, and thus effectively nationalised. Four, [[London North Eastern Railway|LNER]], [[Northern Trains]], [[Southeastern (train operating company)|Southeastern]] and [[TransPennine Express]], are [[Operator of last resort|operators of last resort]] owned by the [[Department for Transport]]. [[Transport for Wales Rail]] is owned by [[Transport for Wales]], a [[Welsh Government]] owned company, with no current plans to re-privatise the latter. On 1 April 2022, [[ScotRail (brand)|ScotRail]] was put under public ownership by the [[Scottish Government]], under [[Transport Scotland]] as [[ScotRail]] operating on the same day.

The [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]] caused a huge fall in the number of passengers using the railways, with journeys in 2020 being about 22% of the previous year, before rising again as travel restrictions eased.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=COVID-19: Rail passenger numbers fall to lowest level since time of steam trains in 1872 |url=https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-rail-passenger-numbers-fall-to-lowest-level-since-time-of-steam-trains-in-1872-12324020 |website=Sky News |date=3 June 2021 |access-date=3 October 2023 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002175803/https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-rail-passenger-numbers-fall-to-lowest-level-since-time-of-steam-trains-in-1872-12324020 |url-status=live }}</ref> During 2020, all [[Train operating company|train operating companies]] entered into emergency measures agreements with the UK and Scottish governments.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/news/theonsclassifiestrainoperatingcompaniesnowrunningunderemergencymeasuresagreements |title= The ONS classifies train operating companies now running under emergency measures agreements |date= 31 July 2020 |website= ONS |access-date= 12 April 2021 |archive-date= 12 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210412163453/https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/news/theonsclassifiestrainoperatingcompaniesnowrunningunderemergencymeasuresagreements |url-status= live }}</ref> Normal franchise mechanisms were amended, transferring almost all revenue and cost risk to the government, effectively 'renationalising' the network temporarily.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/66334/uk-rail-effectively-renationalised-during-pandemic/ | title= UK rail effectively 'renationalised' during pandemic | date= 3 August 2020 | website= transportxtra | access-date= 12 April 2021 | archive-date= 12 April 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210412163453/https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/66334/uk-rail-effectively-renationalised-during-pandemic/ | url-status= live }}</ref>

In September 2020, the UK Government permanently got rid of the rail franchising system.<ref name="BBC News">{{Cite news|date=21 September 2020|title=Rail franchises axed as help for train firms extended|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54232015|access-date=19 May 2021|archive-date=19 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519220012/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54232015|url-status=live}}</ref> On 20 May 2021, the Government announced a white paper that would transform the operation of the railways. The rail network will be partly renationalised, with infrastructure and operations brought together under the state-owned public body [[Great British Railways]]. Operations will be managed on a concessions model. According to the BBC, this represents the largest shake-up in the UK's railways since privatisation.<ref name="BBC News"/> On 18 November 2021, the government announced the biggest ever public investment in Britain's rail network costing £96&nbsp;billion and promising quicker and more frequent rail connections in the North and Midlands: the [[Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands|Integrated Rail Plan]] includes substantially improved connections north–south as well as east–west and includes three new high speed lines.<ref name="Gov">{{Cite news|date=18 November 2021|title=Integrated Rail Plan: biggest ever public investment in Britain's rail network will deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys across North and Midlands|language=en-GB|work=Department of Transport|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/integrated-rail-plan-biggest-ever-public-investment-in-britains-rail-network-will-deliver-faster-more-frequent-and-more-reliable-journeys-across-no|access-date=18 November 2021|archive-date=18 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118113317/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/integrated-rail-plan-biggest-ever-public-investment-in-britains-rail-network-will-deliver-faster-more-frequent-and-more-reliable-journeys-across-no|url-status=live}}</ref>

In July 2024, the new [[Premiership of Keir Starmer|Labour government]] confirmed that [[Train operating company|passenger services]] would be brought back into public ownership upon the expiry of their contracts as part of the wider renationalisation of the rail network.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 April 2024 |title=Labour pledges to renationalise most rail services within five years |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68889345 |access-date=14 July 2024 |website=BBC}}</ref>