Rail Regulator

The Rail Regulator was a statutory office, created with effect from 1 December 1993 by section 1 of the Railways Act 1993, for the independent economic regulation of the British railway industry.

The office was abolished from 4 July 2004, using powers under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, when (in line with constitutional changes made to other economic regulatory authorities) the single-person regulator model was replaced by a nine-member corporate board called the Office of Rail Regulation.

Under the Railways Act 2005, the Office of Rail Regulation was later given safety jurisdiction in addition to economic regulatory functions.

The first Rail Regulator was John Swift QC, who held office from 1 December 1993 until 30 November 1998. Appointed by the Conservative Secretary of State for Transport, John MacGregor MP, Swift had little hope of being reappointed for a second five-year term by the new Labour party Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott MP. Prescott had announced at the Labour Party conference in September 1998 that he intended to have a "spring clean of the regulators".

Because Nolan rules on the making of public appointments take months, Prescott appointed Chris Bolt, Swift's chief economic adviser, as regulator on an interim basis from 1 December 1998 on a seven-month contract, to allow him to go through the process for a full-term appointment.

Prescott's choice for regulator was Tom Winsor, a lawyer and partner in a leading City of London law firm who had shown his impatience with the poor performance of Railtrack, the owner and operator of the national railway infrastructure. Winsor held office from 5 July 1999 until 4 July 2004, during some turbulent years in British railway history. In the 2015 New Year Honours List, Winsor was knighted; the citation included the following passage: "As Rail Regulator from 1999 to 2004, he substantially reformed the [railway] industry leading to major improvements in railway performance, network integrity, industry development and passenger satisfaction".

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