Impact of the privatisation of British Rail

The impact of the privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s has been the subject of much debate, which has continued to the present day.

Since privatisation, customer service has improved and many rail lines have seen enhancements in this field with better on-board and station services. Passenger satisfaction according to the National Rail Passenger survey has risen from 76% in 1999 (when the survey started) to 83% in 2013 and the number of passengers not satisfied with their journey dropped from 10% to 6%. However, the impact of the Hatfield rail accident in 2000 left services seriously affected for many months after.

According to a Eurobarometer poll, satisfaction with rail of UK respondents is the second highest in the EU, behind Finland. The poll found that average UK satisfaction over four different areas was 78%, ahead of France (74%), Germany (51%) and Italy (39%).

Since privatisation, the number of national rail journeys had increased by 117% by 2014 (see graph in the introduction) and the number of passenger-km had more than doubled. There is controversy as to how much of this is due to privatisation, and how much is due to other factors such as rising fuel prices, road congestion, low unemployment, and in particular, GDP growth. Critics of privatisation such as the RMT union have pointed out that passenger numbers started rising 18 months before the privatisation process began, as the economy started recovering from the recession of the early 1990s. However this increase has kept going during the entire duration of privatisation, with passenger numbers growing much faster than comparable European countries such as France or Germany.

In an attempt to protect passengers' interests, certain fares (mostly commuter season fares) and basic elements of the timetable were regulated. However, the TOCs still had quite a bit of latitude in changing unregulated fares and could change the number of trains run within certain regulatory and practical limitations. Overall, fare increases have been at a slower rate than under British Rail. So far as the timetable is concerned, many more trains are being run each day than under BR as operators have tried to run more frequent, but usually shorter, trains on many routes to attract more customers.

20 years after the privatisation the increase in fares hasn't been uniform: standard single fares have increased by up to 208% whereas season ticket price rises hover just below or slightly above the rate of inflation, with an increase of between 55% and 80%, while the price of Advance tickets has decreased in real terms: the average Advance ticket in 1995 cost £9.14 (in 2014 prices) compared to £5.17 in 2014. This is to try and reduce the huge number of people travelling at peak times. For example, over half of National Rail journeys into London occur in the three hours from 7am to 10am, with half of these journeys (a quarter of the days total) occurring between 8 and 9. On average, train fares per journey cost 2.7% more in real terms in 2011–12 than in 1994-5 under British Rail.

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