How have the rail in Britain been privatized?

In the 1993 the Railways Act was introduced. The operations of the British Railways Board (BRB) were broken up and sold off. In this essay I shall outline the way in which BRB was divided into private companies, and discuss the role of the state in the rail industry, by outlining the role of the most important bodies that set the rules and regulations of the British rail companies.

The Railway Act split the BRB into few sectors. The infrastructure – all track, signalling and stations – went to the Railtrack. All of British Rail's passenger coaches, locomotives, and multiple units was allocated in hands of three Rolling Stock Leasing Companies (ROSCOs) – Angel Trains, Porterbrook Leasing, and Eversholt Trains (later HSBC Rail). Passenger Train Operators were converted into Train Operating Companies that owned virtually nothing, as they had to rent trains from ROSCOs and hiring the space on train from the Railtrack. They were supposed to compete for the customers, hence allocate the resources more efficiently. However, introducing free market competition by scattering the BRB into different sectors, and dividing one into 25 private TOC turned out to be a failure, due to the peculiar features of the railway industry. I shall evaluate this claim in my next essay. Now I will outline the role of the regulatory bodies and Franchising bodies.

The Rail Regulator was established in order to prevent companies from monopolistic practices, regulate the safety rules and set the framework for operating the tracks. The Director of Passenger Rail Franchising took responsibility for organizing franchising process for the 25 TOSs.