Strategic Rail Authority
 |
|
| non-departmental public body | |
| Industry | Railway transport |
| Fate | Abolished |
| Successor | Department for Transport |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Defunct | 2006 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
United Kingdom (Not Including Northern Ireland) |
The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'.
The Shadow SRA was established in 1999 following the election of the Labour government in 1997 in an attempt to increase public interest regulation of the fragmented railway network following the privatisation of British Rail. It incorporated the former Conservative government's Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Its main function was awarding and ensuring compliance with passenger rail franchises – contracts between the state and private sector operators under which the operators committed to provide certain levels of service in return for public subsidies; some franchises were cash-positive, which meant that the operator paid the SRA for the right to provide the services. The SRA's other functions were concerned with the financial support of other unviable services, such as the giving of grants to support marginal rail freight services and the building of freight facilities.
The SRA was placed on a formal legal basis by the Transport Act 2000 and came into existence on 1 February 2001.
The government wanted the SRA to take a more interventionist role with Railtrack and its successor Network Rail, but never gave it the legal powers to do so. Those powers rested with - and were jealously guarded by - the Rail Regulator, who frequently clashed with the SRA when he believed that it was over-reaching its jurisdiction.
The SRA operated under directions and guidance from the Secretary of State for Transport, also in Scotland from the Scottish Minister for Transport and in Greater London from the Mayor of London.
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