Editing Rail transport in Great Britain (section)

===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>