Railway Nationalization - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In 1914, the railways were taken into Government control due to World War I, but were returned to the original owners in 1921, three years after the war had ended. However in that same year, the government introduced the Railways Act 1921. This forced the 120 railway companies then operating to merge into just four. This grouping officially took place on 1 January 1923. The four railway companies formed from the grouping were: The Great Western Railway, the Southern Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. In Britain during World War II, the railways were taken into State control. They were heavily damaged by enemy attacks and were run down aiding the war effort. After the war, the Transport Act 1947 provided for nationalising the four major railways. On January 1, 1948, the railways were nationalized and British Railways was created, under the overall management of the British Transport Commission, later the British Railways Board. By the 1980s, it was one of the few profitable state railway companies in the world.

The privatisation of British Rail occurred between 1994 and 1997, wherein a complicated privatisation took place to a series of private sector operators under contracts. Overall, over 100 companies took over from British Rail. In 2001 the track operator Railtrack plc went bankrupt; it was reconstituted and renamed as Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd., a private company with no legal owner but effectively government-controlled via its constitution and financing. The Government still invests heavily in the railways, such as paying for extra rolling stock. Government spending on the railways has increased substantially compared to when the railways were in state control.

Railways in Northern Ireland were nationalised in the 1940s under the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA). The former LMS lines managed by the Northern Counties Committee, nationalised by the Westminster government, were sold by the British Transport Commission to the UTA in 1949.