British Rail 1974-1997

From Integration to Privatisation
Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-19-926909-9
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 736 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 1088 g

Britain's privatised railways continure to provoke debate about the organisation, financing, and development of the railway system. This important book, written by Britain's leading railway historian, provides an authoritative account of the progress made by British Rail prior to privatisation, and a unique insight into its difficult role in the government's privatisation planning from 1989. Based on free access to the British Railway Board's rich archives, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the main themes: a process of continuous organisational change; the existence of a persistent government audit; perennial investment restraints; the directive to reduce operating costs and improve productivity; a concern with financial performance, technological change, service quality, and the management of industrial relations; and the Board's ambiguous position as the Conservative government pressed home its privatisation programme.

The introduction of sector management from 1982 and the 'Organising for Quality' initiative of the early 1990s, the Serpell Report on railway finances of 1983, the sale of the subsidiary businesses, the large-scale investment in the Channel Tunnel, and the obsession with safety which followed the Clapham accident of 1988, are all examined in depth. In the conclusion, the author reviews the successes and failures of the public sector, rehearses the arguments for and against integration in the railway industry, and contrasts what many have termed 'the golden age' of the mid-late 1980s, when the British Rail-government relationship was arguably at its most effective, with what has happened since 1994.

Zielgruppe

Economic and business historians, political scientists, transport and railway historians, transport specialists and policy makers, current and former rail managers

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gourvish, Terry

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Verkehrstechnik | Transportgewerbe Schienenfahrzeugtechnik und -gewerbe
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Verwaltungsrecht Verwaltungspraxis Public Private Partnership
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Unternehmensführung
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Öffentlicher Dienst, Öffentlicher Sektor
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Geschichte der VWL
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Unternehmensorganisation & Entwicklungsstrategien
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Verwaltungsrecht Verwaltungspraxis Public Management
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Transport- und Verkehrswirtschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction: British Rail After Twenty-Five Years of Nationalisation

- Part I: Railways Under Labour, 1974-1979

- 2.: Operating the 1974 Railways Act: Financial Results, Organisational Responses, and Relations with Government

- 3.: Operations, Productivity, and Technological Change

- Part II: The Thatcher Revolution? British Rail in the 1980s

- 4.: Sector Management and New Performance Targets

- 5.: The Serpell Report

- 6.: Cost Control and Investment in the Post-Serpell Railway

- 7.: Selling the Subsidiary Businesses

- Part II: On the Threshold of Privatisation: Running the Railways, 1990-1994

- 8.: Business Performance, Pricing, and Productivity

- 9.: Investment and the Channel Tunnel

- 10.: Safety

- Part IV: Responding to Privatisation, 1981-1997

- 11.: The Privatisation Debate and 'Organising for Quality'

- 12.: Reorganising for Privatisation, 1992-1994

- 13.: Endgame, 1994-1997

- Appendices

Über Autor(innen)

Terry Gourvish has been Director of the Business History Unit at the London School of Economics since 1989. Previously he was the Dean of the School of Economic and Social Studies at the University of East Anglia.