History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date

This article is part of a series on the History of rail transport in Great Britain

The period from 1995 covers the history of rail transport in Great Britain following the privatisation of British Rail. During this period, passenger volumes have grown rapidly, safety has improved, and subsidies per journey have fallen. However, there is debate as to whether this is due to privatisation or better government regulation. See Impact of privatisation for more information. During this period, High Speed 1 and the West Coast Main Line upgrade were completed and more construction projects are currently under way.

Overall rail subsidies have risen, as shown in the graph, although spend per journey has decreased. Rail subsidies have increased from £2.4bn in 1992-93 to £3.2bn in 2015-16 (in current prices), although subsidy per journey has fallen from £3.26 per journey to £1.86 per journey. However, this masks great regional variation, as in 2014-15 funding varied from "£1.41 per passenger journey in England to £6.51 per journey in Scotland and £8.34 per journey in Wales."

Due to the increase in passenger numbers and the prospect of high speed rail both within Great Britain and connecting to Europe, this period has been called the start of a new Golden Age of rail travel. However quickly increasing passenger numbers have meant many trains are very crowded at peak times. Peak-time fares have increased by over 200% (since privatisation) to deter people from travelling at these times, whereas the price of advance tickets has halved in the same period.

The Labour government (elected in 1997 after the majority of the privatisation process had been completed) did not completely reverse the railway privatisation of the previous administration. Initially it left the new structure largely in place, however its main innovation in the early years was the creation of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), initially in shadow form until the Transport Act 2000 received Royal Assent.

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