National Rail Enquiries
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| Product type | Public transport |
|---|---|
| Owner | Rail Delivery Group |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 1999 |
| Related brands | |
| Markets | United Kingdom |
| Website | http://www.nationalrail.co.uk |
In Great Britain, National Rail is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of Great Britain that run the passenger services previously provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail. National Rail generally does not include services that do not have a BR history; this distinction is important because National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that do not necessarily extend to other services. The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport.
The National Rail (NR) logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, available on its website. “In 1964 the Design Research Unit—Britain’s first multi-disciplinary design agency founded in 1943 by Misha Black, Milner Gray and Herbert Read—was commissioned to breathe new life into the nation’s neglected railway industry...". The NR title is sometimes described as a "brand". As it was used by British Rail, the single operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity; and it avoids the need to replace signage.
National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail. National Rail is a title used to promote passenger railway services, and providing some harmonisation for passengers (e.g. tickets to all London Terminals), while Network Rail is the organisation owning and managing most of the fixed assets (tracks, signals etc.) of the railway network.
The two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry freight traffic and some lines are freight only. There are some scheduled passenger services on their own privately managed, non-Network Rail lines, for example Heathrow Express which also partly runs on Network Rail track and the London Underground also overlaps with Network Rail in places.
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