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| royal_assent = 5 November 1993| commencement = 1 January 1994| expiry_date = | repeal_date = Regulation of Railways Act 1889Post Office Act 1953>Transport Act 1962Transport Act 1968>Post Office Act 1969British Railways Act 1971>Railways Act 1974Transport Act 1978>Transport Act 1980Transport Act 1981>Transport (Finance) Act 1982London Regional Transport Act 1984>Transport Act 1985Channel Tunnel Act 1987>New Roads and Street Works Act 1991|British Railways Board (Finance) Act 1991}}London Midland and Scottish Railway (Road Transport) Act 1928Great Western Railway (Road Transport) Act 1928>London and North Eastern Railway (Road Transport) Act 1928Southern Railway (Road Transport) Act 1928>Great Western Railway (Air Transport) Act 1929London and North Eastern Railway (Air Transport) Act 1929>London Midland and Scottish Railway (Air Transport) Act 1929Southern Railway (Air Transport) Act 1929>Transport (Financial Provisions) Act 1977|Transport Act 1962 (Amendment) Act 1981}}| amendments = | repealing_legislation = | related_legislation = | status = amended| legislation_history = | theyworkforyou = | millbankhansard = | original_text =www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/43/contents/enacted| revised_text = | use_new_UK-LEG = yes| UK-LEG_title = | collapsed = }}The Railways Act 1993 (c. 43) was introduced by John Major’s Conservative government and passed on 5 November 1993. It provided for the restructuring of the British Railways Board (BRB), the public corporation that owned and operated the national railway system. A few residual responsibilities of the BRB remained with BRB (Residuary) Ltd.

Background

While the administration of Margaret Thatcher had not done so, the Major government were determined to privatise British Rail. Railways in the 18th and 19th centuries had originally been built and run with private capital, but subsidised heavily by Parliament and communities who gave land for building through compulsory purchase. Rail was increasingly regulated, for instance under the Railways Act 1921, but was finally nationalised by the Transport Act 1947. Calls for reform of the nationalised system combined with people who believed only the private sector could run rail to ensure better service for passengers at cheaper cost. This led to the Railways Act 1993.

Contents

The legislation created a new regulatory regime for the railways, with the establishment of the Rail Regulator (dealing with the monopoly and dominant elements of the industry, principally Railtrack (now Network Rail)) and the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising, whose role was to sell passenger rail franchises to the private sector. The Director of Passenger Rail Franchising was replaced in 2001 by the Strategic Rail Authority. When the SRA was abolished in 2006 franchising were taken over by the Secretary of State for Transport. The statutory position of Rail Regulator was abolished in July 2004 and his functions were taken over by the Office of Rail Regulation.{{Expand section|date=January 2017}}

Consequences

The legislation enabled the Secretary of State for Transport John MacGregor to transfer separated parts of the railway to the private sector. Passenger rail services were franchised to private companies including Virgin Rail Group, Connex and the coach companies Stagecoach and National Express, and the national railway track and signalling company Railtrack was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1996. British Rail’s track maintenance and renewal operations were sold to private companies, with contracts to provide infrastructure services to Railtrack. The three rolling stock leasing companies or ROSCOs, owners of the passenger rolling stock, were sold to management buyout teams.

Railtrack

Railtrack collapsed in highly controversial circumstances in October 2001, and in October 2002 the company emerged from railway administration, a special state of insolvency for railway companies created by the Railways Act 1993, as Network Rail. Some commentators regard the creation of Network Rail and its taking maintenance in-house as the beginning of the reversal of rail privatisation.

Amendments

The legislation has been amended several times, most significantly by the Transport Act 2000, the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 and the Railways Act 2005.

See also

• Railways Act 1921
• Transport Act 1947

References

{{Reflist}}{{British railway ticketing}}