In the May 1997 ‘Informed Sources’ I published a three-column table with 17 footnotes. It listed the managing directors of the 25 privatised passenger rail franchises with their British Rail opposite numbers in 1995.
This simple analysis was categorised on the basis of the British Rail managers’ role in the franchising process. Of those who led a Management Buyout (MBO), only four were successful and of them one was disqualified following the discovery of season ticket irregularities.
All these successful bids included trade partners and, with the exception of Adrian Shooter at Chiltern, the trade partners were bus companies. In passing, Mr Shooter’s ability to read the commercial market and the political zeitgeist over the last 25 years has been exceptional.
In contrast, by 1997, of the 13 BR managers who succeeded in shortlisting an MBO, eight had lost their jobs. But far from their replacements being dominated by bus bandits swarming aboard the train operating companies (TOCs) with pads of P45s gripped in their teeth, only three of the 25 TOCs had new non-railway managers.
NEWBIES
Christopher Garnett, of course, had come from Eurotunnel. The other two were Alastair McPherson at ScotRail, from Nationa…
