Train franchising may have ‘had its day’ but the wait goes on for answers on rail reform

On 9 October 1990, just weeks before the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, the then transport secretary Cecil Parkinson addressed the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth. On the future of British Rail, he was unequivocal. “The question now is not about whether we should privatise it, but how and when,” he said.

The “when” would be addressed by John Major’s government over the years that followed. The “how” saw Britain’s rail network carved up and sold to train companies that operated under a franchise system. The infrastructure – the tracks, points and stations – was swept into a single entity that started out in private hands (called Railtrack) before being pushed onto the public balance…