In the 1980s, the railway knew where it was going. The Government set targets for reducing, or even eliminating, the Public Service Obligation (PSO) subsidy, and the Treasury set the External Finance Limit (EFL) for borrowing to pay for enhancements.
Within these financial constraints, British Rail got on with running the railway while modernising its management structure and investing in the network. Thanks to a growing economy, plus a cadre of experienced managers reaching their peak, it seemed to work.
In the 1990s, too, the railway knew where it was going. As we rehearse in the latest of our anniversary retrospectives, when the Government decided that British Rail should be broken up and privatised, the same experienced management teams threw themselves into the new task. And within five years the deed was done.
The challenge became making the new system work, meeting franchise subsidy profiles, procuring new rolling stock, cutting the cost of infrastructure maintenance and renewals and reviving the cycle of route modernisations.
Come the noughties and the overarching vision was clouding over. However, there was no doubt about the immediate action needed.
Following the failure of Railtrack, new infr…
