Editing Railtrack (section)

===Transfer of assets to Network Rail===
[[Network Rail]] was formed with the principal purpose of acquiring and owning Railtrack plc. Originally the Government allowed private companies to bid for Railtrack plc. However, with limited availability of financial data on Railtrack, the political implications of owning the company and the very obvious preference of the government that the national railway network should go to Network Rail, no bidders apart from Network Rail were forthcoming, and Network Rail bought Railtrack plc on 3 October 2002.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2267597.stm |title = Network Rail closer to Railtrack takeover |publisher = BBC News |date = 18 September 2002 |access-date = 20 May 2010 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090917043501/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2267597.stm |archive-date = 17 September 2009 |df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title = An illusion of success: The consequences of British rail privatisation |first = Andrew |last = Bowman |journal = Accounting Forum |volume = 39 |issue = 1 |date = March 2015 |pages = 51–63|doi = 10.1016/j.accfor.2014.10.001 |s2cid = 154910139 |doi-access = free }}</ref> Railtrack plc was subsequently renamed to ''Network Rail Infrastructure Limited''.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/research/researchcentres/Thecentreformanagementandorganisationalhistory/148170.pdf |page = 18 |title = Accounting for Producer Needs: The case of Britain's rail infrastructure |publisher = Centre for Management and Organisational History |access-date = 12 October 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075330/http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/research/researchcentres/Thecentreformanagementandorganisationalhistory/148170.pdf |archive-date = 4 March 2016 }}</ref>

Network Rail's acquisition of Railtrack plc was welcomed at the time by groups that represented British train passengers. The attitude of Railtrack's customers – the passenger- and freight-train operators – was much more cautious, especially as they were wary of a corporate structure under which shareholders' equity was not at risk if the company's new management mis-managed its affairs.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/sep/16/transportintheuk.society |title = Think tank lays into Network Rail structure |work = The Guardian |date = 16 September 2002 |access-date = 12 December 2016 |archive-date = 1 December 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161201212818/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/sep/16/transportintheuk.society |url-status = live }}</ref>