British Rail 1974-97 From Integration to Privatisation

by Gourvish, Terry; Anson, Mike

• ISBN13: 9780199250059
• ISBN10: 0199250057
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Britain's privatised railways continure to provoke debate about the organisation, financing, and development of the railway system. This important book, written by Britain's leading railway historian, provides an authoritative account of the progress made by British Rail prior toprivatisation, and a unique insight into its difficult role in the government's privatisation planning from 1989. Based on free access to the British Railway Board's rich archives, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the main themes: a process of continuous organisational change; theexistence of a persistent government audit; perennial investment restraints; the directive to reduce operating costs and improve productivity; a concern with financial performance, technological change, service quality, and the management of industrial relations; and the Board's ambiguous positionas the Conservative government pressed home its privatisation programme. The introduction of sector management from 1982 and the 'Organising for Quality' initiative of the early 1990s, the Serpell Report on railway finances of 1983, the sale of the subsidiary businesses, the large-scale investment in the Channel Tunnel, and the obsession with safety which followed theClapham accident of 1988, are all examined in depth. In the conclusion, the author reviews the successes and failures of the public sector, rehearses the arguments for and against integration in the railway industry, and contrasts what many have termed 'the golden age' of the mid-late 1980s, whenthe British Rail-government relationship was arguably at its most effective, with what has happened since 1994.

Author Biography

Terry Gourvish has been Director of the Business History Unit at the London School of Economics since 1989. Previously he was the Dean of the School of Economic and Social Studies at the University of East Anglia.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations (Cartoons and Plates)	x
List of Figures	xiii
List of Tables	xiv
Acknowledgements	xvii
List of Interviewees	xviii
Abbreviations and Acronyms	xx
Preface	xxvi
Introduction: British Rail after 25 Years of Nationalisation	1	(20)
The long march from 1948	1	(8)
The British Railways Board	9	(2)
The Railways Act 1974	11	(2)
Marsh and the frustrations of public sector management	13	(8)
Part 1 Railways under Labour, 1974-9
Operating the 1974 Railways Act: Financial Results, Organisational Responses, and Relations with Government	21	(32)
The financial record to 1979	21	(2)
Peter Parker and the impetus for organisational reform	23	(5)
The new functional organisation of 1977	28	(9)
The subsidiary businesses	37	(5)
The strained relationship with government	42	(7)
The 1978 White Paper and the search for railway objectives	49	(4)
Operations, Productivity, and Technological Change	53	(46)
The scale and complexity of railway operations	53	(3)
Passenger pricing and marketing	56	(7)
Freight pricing and marketing	63	(3)
Operating costs and productivity	66	(6)
The unions, pay, and productivity	72	(5)
The search for cost savings: limited success	77	(7)
Railway investment: a disappointing record	84	(7)
The challenge of new technologies	91	(4)
Conclusion	95	(4)
Part 2 The Thatcher Revolution? British Rail in the 1980s
Sector Management and New Performance Targets	99	(52)
Margaret Thatcher's government and the railways	99	(4)
The establishment of sector management, 1979-82	103	(4)
`Business led' or `government led'?	107	(10)
The development of sector management, 1982-5	117	(14)
Further developments, 1986-9	131	(7)
The achievements of sector management	138	(12)
Conclusion	150	(1)
The Serpell Report	151	(31)
The financial crisis of the early 1980s	152	(2)
The `balance sheet of change': electrification versus higher productivity	154	(4)
The call for a review	158	(4)
Squeezed by government, challenged by ASLEF	162	(7)
The Serpell reports	169	(5)
Derailing Serpell	174	(8)
Cost Control and Investment in the post-Serpell Railway	182	(49)
The operating cost problem: pay and productivity bargaining	182	(15)
Rationalising the network	197	(6)
Engineering costs-M&EE	203	(6)
Engineering costs-CE and S&TE	209	(6)
The investment challenge	215	(15)
Conclusion	230	(1)
Selling the Subsidiary Businesses	231	(28)
The significance of disposal	231	(1)
The search for private-public partnership	232	(4)
British Transport Hotels	236	(5)
Sealink and the harbours	241	(2)
The railway workshops	243	(3)
The Property Board	246	(5)
Other businesses	251	(1)
Conclusion	252	(7)
Part 3 On the Threshold of Privatisation: Running the Railways, 1990-4
Business Performance, Pricing, and Productivity	259	(43)
A new chairman, a new board	259	(3)
The challenge of the 1989-93 recession	262	(8)
Passenger services: the search for quality	270	(6)
Passenger marketing and pricing	276	(7)
Freight and parcels under pressure	283	(8)
Productivity	291	(3)
Industrial relations in the early 1990s	294	(8)
Investment and the Channel Tunnel	302	(39)
Promoting investment	302	(9)
Investment frustrated	311	(4)
Project management and procurement	315	(4)
Investing in the Channel Tunnel	319	(9)
The High-Speed Rail Link: slow progress	328	(13)
Safety	341	(24)
The Clapham accident and its aftermath	341	(3)
Transforming the safety culture	344	(7)
Additional spending on safety	351	(4)
Automatic Train Protection	355	(5)
The safety record	360	(5)
Part 4 Responding to Privatisation, 1981-97
The Privatisation Debate and `Organising for Quality'	365	(27)
Origins, 1981-9	366	(4)
The Board's position: reluctant compliance	370	(4)
Organising for Quality	374	(9)
Privatisation re-emerges, 1990-2	383	(9)
Reorganising for Privatisation, 1992-4	392	(44)
From New Opportunities to the 1993 Railways Act	392	(8)
The new railway structure	400	(28)
Managing change, 1992-4	428	(5)
Conclusion	433	(3)
Endgame	436	(82)
The `great railway bazaar'	436	(7)
A `golden age'	443	(2)
How entrepreneurial was British Rail?	445	(1)
Transforming the cosy railway culture?	446	(1)
Can the public sector manage large-scale investment?	447	(1)
The `visible hand' of government?	448	(1)
Conclusion	449	(6)
Appendices
A Financial results	455	(5)
B Investment	460	(6)
C Productivity and performance indicators	466	(4)
D Passenger and freight traffic volumes and revenue	470	(6)
E Sector operating results	476	(8)
F Government financial controls and out-turns	484	(4)
G Staff, pay settlements, rates and earnings, paybill costs	488	(7)
H Subsidiaries-hotel sales and property board income	495	(4)
I British Railways Board senior staff	499	(2)
J Passenger pricing, bus substitution, quality objectives, and charter targets	501	(9)
K Passenger-miles maximisation	510	(1)
L British Rail-sales and disposals	511	(7)
Notes	518	(160)
Index	678