British Rail

British Railways
British Rail

Company type	State-owned (trade name of a division 1948–1963, statutory corporation 1963–1997)
Industry	Railway transport, logistics, shipping, and manufacturing of rolling stock
Predecessor	Great Western Railway London, Midland & Scottish Railway London & North Eastern Railway Southern Railway
Founded	1 January 1948 (1948-01-01)
Defunct	20 November 1997 (1997-11-20)
Fate	Privatised
Successor	National Rail Train operating franchises Railtrack EWS Freightliner
Headquarters	London , England
Area served	Great Britain
Key people	Alastair Morton (Final Chairman of the British Railways Board)
Products	Rail transport, cargo transport, services
Owner	Government of the United Kingdom
Parent	1948–1962: British Transport Commission 1962–1997: British Railways Board
Divisions	From 1948: Eastern Region London Midland Region North Eastern Region Scottish Region Southern Region Western Region British Rail Research Division Collection & Delivery Freightliner Motorail Night Star Parcels Speedlink Rail Express Parcels Red Star Parcels From 1982: InterCity Network SouthEast Railfreight Railfreight Distribution Rail Express Systems Regional Railways Trainload Freight
Subsidiaries	British Rail Engineering Ltd British Transport Hotels European Passenger Services Sealink Seaspeed Travellers Fare

British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board.^[1]

British Railways was formed on 1 January 1948 as a result of the Transport Act 1947, which nationalised the Big Four British railway companies along with some other (but not all) smaller railways. Profitability of the railways became a pressing concern during the 1950s, leading to multiple efforts to bolster performance, including some line closures. The 1955 Modernisation Plan formally directed a process of dieselisation and electrification to take place; accordingly, steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction (except for the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway tourist line) by 1968. On 1 January 1963, the British Railways Board was created to manage the railways as a successor to the British Transport Commission.

It was during the 1960s that perhaps the most substantial changes were made. Seeking to reduce rail subsidies, one-third of the network and over half of all stations were permanently closed under the Beeching cuts. Trunk routes were considered to be the most important, and so electrification of the Great Eastern Main Line from London to Norwich was completed between 1976 and 1986 and on the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh between 1985 and 1990. Train manufacturer British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) produced the capable InterCity 125 and Sprinter sets, the introduction of which improved intercity and regional railways, respectively, as well as the unsuccessful Advanced Passenger Train (APT). Gradually, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business. From 1982, under sectorisation, the regions were gradually replaced by "business sectors", which were originally responsible for marketing and other commercial matters when they were first created but had taken over entirely by 1990.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the British Government directed the privatisation of British Rail. Following completion of the privatisation process in 1997, responsibility for track, signalling and stations was transferred to Railtrack (later brought under public control as Network Rail) while services were run by a variety of train operating companies. At the end of the process, any remaining obligations of British Rail were transferred to BRB (Residuary) Limited. Great British Railways, a planned publicly owned body, is expected to manage railway infrastructure and passenger railway services in the future,^[2] with remaining privatised franchises to be brought into public control under the provisions of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024.^[3] GBR will use an updated form of the British Rail Double Arrow as its logo,^[4] which is now owned by the Secretary of State for Transport, and which remains employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations.^[5]