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'''British Rail''' (in full, the British Railways Board) was the nationalised railway of [[Great Britain]] from 1948 until the system was privatised piecemeal in the 1990s. It included almost all the standard gauge railways in Great Britain, with the exception of the [[London Underground]], the [[Tyne and Wear Metro]], and some industrial and colliery lines; railways in [[Northern Ireland]] were run by a separate authority.  Subsequent to privatisation, Britain's network of tracks and stations has been owned and maintained by Railtrack, and subsequently Network Rail, while train services have been managed by numerous regional companies.

'''British Rail''' (in full, the British Railways Board) was the nationalised railway of [[Great Britain]] from 1948 until the system was privatised piecemeal in the 1990s. It included almost all the standard gauge railways in Great Britain, with the exception of the [[London Underground]], the [[Tyne and Wear Metro]], Merseyrail, tram lines, and some industrial and colliery lines; railways in [[Northern Ireland]] were run by a separate authority.  Subsequent to privatisation, Britain's network of tracks and stations has been owned and maintained by Railtrack, and subsequently Network Rail, while train services have been managed by numerous regional Train Operating Companies (TOCs), who lease rolling stock from a number of leasing companies such as HSBC Rail.

 

Although privatisation has brought a huge amount of investment, large efficiency savings and improved infrastructure and services, the government has continued to strangle innovation by heavily regulating companies behaviour, dictating timetables and service patterns as well as fares, though despite this, since privatisation passenger usage and quality of service has soared well above socialised rail systems such as those in France, Spain and the Netherlands.

 

Efforts by certain rail operators to obtain greater freedom to operate services have met with stiff opposition, with some liberals calling for the entire rail system to be re-nationalised. This agenda came one step nearer to realisation in 2002, when the liberal government of Tony Blair forced Railtrack into bankruptcy, and split it's responsibilities between the Strategic Rail Authority and the government controlled company Network Rail.

[[Category:Rail transport]]

[[Category:Rail transport]]