British Rail Privatisation

OCCASIONAL PAPER 23

BRITISH RAIL PRIVATISATION ~ COMPETITION DESTROYED BY POLITICS

Stephen Glaister

Fundación Rafael del Pino Conference: Competencia en el Transporte Ferroviario

The University of Bath School of Management is one of the oldest established management schools in Britain. It enjoys an international reputation for the quality of its teaching and research. Its mission is to offer a balanced portfolio of undergraduate, postgraduate and post-experience programmes, research and external activities, which provide a quality of intellectual life for those involved in keeping with the best traditions of British universities.

BRITISH RAIL PRIVATISATION COMPETITION DESTROYED BY POLITICS

CRI Occasional Paper 23

Stephen Glaister
This paper was prepared for a conference entitled ‘Competencia en el Transporte Ferroviari’ held on September 16th and 17th 2004 in Madrid The paper and conference were sponsored by Fundación Rafael del Pino Rafael Calvo, 39 28010 Madrid
© Fundación Rafael del Pino 2004

Desktop published by Jan Marchant

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Centre for the study of Regulated Industries (CRI)
The CRI is a research centre of the University of Bath School of Management. The CRI was founded in 1991 as part of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). It transferred to the University of Bath School of Management in 1998. It is situated on the 8th floor of Wessex House (North), adjacent to West car park.

The CRI is an interdisciplinary research centre investigating how regulation and competition are working in practice, both in the UK and abroad. It is independent and politically neutral. It aims to produce authoritative, practical contributions to regulatory policy and debate, which are put into the public domain. The CRI focuses on comparative analyses across the regulated industries. CRI activities and outputs include: • • • • • Regulatory statistics, information and analysis Discussion

References: (the bold numbers refer to the footnote in which first cited) Bartle I (2004), Britain’s Railway Crisis – A Review of the Arguments in Comparative Perspective, Occasional Paper 20, Centre for the study of Regulated Industries, University of Bath. (8) Clarke J (2004), Making Markets Work in Rail Freight, The Transport Economist, Spring. (23) Department of Transport (1984), Buses. (11) Department of Transport (1993), Gaining Access to the Railway Network, February. (13) Department for Transport (2004), The Future of Rail, Cm 6233, July. (2) DETR (1998) A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone, Government’s White Paper on the Future of Transport, Cm 3950, July. (19) DETR (2000), Transport 2010: The 10 Year Plan, July. (30) Domberger S (1998), The Contracting Organisation, A Strategic Guide to Outsourcing, Oxford. (3) Evans A (2004), Rail Safety and Rail Privatisation in Britain, Inaugural Lecture of Imperial College London. (25) Foster C D (1992), Privatisation, Public Ownership and the Regulation of Natural Monopoly, Blackwell. (5) Foster C D (1994), The Economics of Rail Privatisation, CRI Discussion Paper 7, April and reprinted in The Development of Rail Regulation, CRI Collections Series 2, November 2003, University of Bath. (8) Foster C D and Castles C (2004), Creating a Viable Railway for Britain - What Has Gone Wrong and How to Fix It, typescript. (1) Foster C D (2005 forthcoming), British Government in Crisis, Hart Publishers, Oxford. (6) Glaister S and Travers T (1995), Liberate the Tube!, Centre for Policy Studies. (12) Glaister S, Kennedy D and Travers T (1995), London Bus Tendering, Greater London Group, March 1995. (29) Glaister S, Burnham J, Stevens H and Travers T (1998), Transport Policy in Britain, Macmillan. (4) Glaister S, Scanlon R and Travers T (2000), Getting Partnerships Going, Institute for Public Policy Research. (35) 56 STEPHEN GLAISTER Gomez-Ibanez J A (2002), Glas Cymru and the Debate over Non-Profits, Teaching Case, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. (25) Helm D (2000), A Critique of Rail Regulation, The Beesley Lectures in Regulation, IEA and London Business School, October. (8) Jones I (2001), On-rail Competition in the Privatised Passenger Rail Industry, in Regulating Utilities: New Issues, New Solutions, Robinson C (ed), Edward Elgar. (17) Kennedy J and Smith A S J (2004), Assessing the Efficient Cost of Sustaining Britain’s Rail Network, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, May. (28) Lawrence G (2001), The Rail Industry in Great Britain, Institutional and Legal Structure 2000/2001, Industry Brief, Centre for the study of Regulated Industries, University of Bath. (8) National Audit Office (2000), Ensuring that Railtrack Maintain and Renew the Network, HC 397 Session 1999-2000, April. (8) National Audit Office (2004a), Network Rail: Making a Fresh Start, HC 532. (8) National Audit Office (2004b), London Underground PPP: Were They Good Deals?, HC 654. (33) National Audit Office (2004c), London Underground: Are the Public Private Partnerships Likely to Work Successfully?, HC 644. (37) Nombela G, de Rus G and Betancor O (2004), Airport Congestion in EU: More Investment or Better Pricing?, Utilities Policy. (18) Office of the Rail Regulator (1994), Competition for Railway Passenger Services, A Policy Statement, December. (14) Office of the Rail Regulator (2000), The Periodic Review of Railtrack’s Access Charges: Final Conclusions, Vols I & II, October. (8) SBC Warburg (1996), Railtrack Share Offer, Prospectus, 1 May. (7) Shaoul J (2004), Railpolitik: The Financial Realities of Operating Britain’s National Railways, Public Money and Management, January. (20) Strategic Rail Authority (2001), Building a Better Railway, March. (31) Strategic Rail Authority (2003), Everyone’s Railway: The Wider Case for Rail, September. (32) Strategic Rail Authority (2004,) Britain’s Railway Properly Delivered, Annual Report 20032004. (9) Transport for London (2001), Proposed Management Plan for the London Underground, April. (34) 57 COMPETITION DESTROYED BY POLITICS Transport for London (2004), London Underground and the PPP: The First Year 2003/04, June. (37) Transport Select Committee (2004), The Future of the Railway, HC145, March. (21) Walder J and Amenta T L (2004), Financing New Infrastructures: Public/Private Partnerships and Private Finance Initiatives, in Hanley R E (ed) Moving People, Goods and Information: The Cutting-Edge Infrastructures of Networked Cities, Spon Press. (36) Winsor T (2004a), The Relationship Between the Government and the Private Sector: Winsor-v- Bloom in context, Incorporated Council of Law reporting, 5 April. Also available at http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/ICLR-annual-lec-050404.pdf (10) Winsor T (2004b), 2004 DfT Rail Review - Submission by the Rail Regulator, Office of the Rail Regulator, 6 May. (26) Wolmar C (2001), Broken Rails, London, Aurum Press. (16) Other references Department of Transport (1992), New Opportunities for the Railways, The Privatisation of British Rail, Cm 2012. DETR (1997), Developing an Integrated Transport Policy, June. Glaister S (1999), Integrated Transport: A Future for Rail?”, in Beesley (ed.), Regulating Utilities: A New Era?, IEA, Readings 49. Gomez-Ibanez J A (2003), Regulating Infrastructure, Harvard. Grayling T (2002), Getting Back on Track, Institute for Public Policy Research, January. HM Treasury (1998), Comprehensive Spending Review: New Public Spending Plans 1999 2002, Modern Public Services for Britain Investing in Reform, July. National Audit Office (2002), Pipes and Wires, April. Public Accounts Committee (2000), The Office of the Rail Regulator, HC 536, Session 19992000, July. Strategic Rail Authority (2002), The Strategic Plan, January. 58