In 1996, with rail privatisation fully implemented, Modern Railways launched an essential new monthly column. ‘Legal lines’ took readers through the legislation that governed the relationships, the rights and obligations between the 85 or so private companies that made up Britain’s railway system.
To provide this guide we went to the fons et origo of railway legislation, a young lawyer, Tom Winsor, who had been responsible for drafting the new contractual structure. Being Tom, the columns combined exemplary clarity with not a little wit.
In an early column headed ‘The competitive jungle’, Mr Winsor dealt with the threat to franchised train operators from on-track competition from open access ‘cherry pickers’. At the time, he regarded the train operating companies (TOCs) and their new portfolio of commercial contracts as ‘delicate infants’. Drawing a parallel with Kipling’s The Jungle Book, our columnist likened the TOCs to Mowgli, with bus bandits (tiger Shere Khan and the snake Kaa) seeking track access rights from the then Railtrack to steal his precious markets.
But the TOCs were not alone in the privatised jungle. On their side were the wise old panther Bagheera (the Rail Regulator) and the tough …
