Table of Contents

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

About the Author

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.

Reviews

British Rail 1974-1997 is a fascinating work. Its length and detail constitute a rare, thorough, and largely unbiased examination of policy formulation over an extended period for a major national railway system. The Journal of Transport History To this chronicle, Dr Gourvish adds thoughtful and persuasive evaluations, well grounded in business organisation and economic theory. This is an extraordinary resource for scholars in business and transport history. The Journal of Transport History Terry Gourvish is the recognised authority on the history of British Railways as a nationalised industry, and the expectations of readers familiar with his previous work will not be disappointed. The book will be a definitive scholarly source of reference for decades to come. Business History ... important insights into the informal operations of the Board. Business History If you want to understand how British Rail was shaped as an organisation and business in the 20 or so years before privatisation, this is the book to read. Railnews, This is a truly monumental work. It is Gourvish's analysis of the issues that gives the book its special interest and authority. Grahame Boyes, Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society This book is a must-read and a must-have. Roger Ford, Modern Railways