Editing British Rail (section)

== Marine services ==

=== Ships ===
{{Main|British Railways ships}}
[[File:Gb~brail.png|thumb|Sealink house flag]]
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 [[British Rail Class 99 (ships)|Class 99]].

=== Sealink ===
{{Main|Sealink}}
[[File:Ulidia.jpg|thumb|Sealink train ferry ''Ulidia'' at Dover]]
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.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = Sealink title for BR and alliped shipping services |magazine = [[Railway Gazette International|Railway Gazette]] |date = 21 November 1969 |page = 843 }}</ref>

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 [[incorporation (business)|incorporated]] as Sealink UK Limited on 1 January 1979,<ref name=company1402237>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title = Sealink UK Limited formed |magazine = [[Railway Magazine]] |issue = 935 |date = March 1979 |page = 111 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = The Great British Rail Sale is Over |magazine = The Railway Magazine |issue = 1152 |date = April 1997 |pages = 24–25 }}</ref> 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 [[Heysham Port|Port of Heysham]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} In 1996, the Sealink name disappeared when the UK services, by then owned by Stena,<ref name="company1402237" /> 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]].

=== Hovercraft ===
{{Main|Seaspeed}}
The joint [[hovercraft]] services of British Rail in association with the French [[SNCF]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 [[Port of Dover|Dover]] to [[Calais]] and [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]], [[France]] using [[SR-N4]] hovercraft in August 1968.<ref name="hov2006">{{cite web |date=6 March 2006 |title=Hovercraft |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southeast/series9/week_nine.shtml |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> During 1981, Seaspeed merged with rival cross-channel hovercraft operator [[Hoverlloyd]] to create the combined [[Hoverspeed]].<ref name = "kew 1981">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>