Privatizing British Railways : Are There Lessons for the World Bank and its Borrowers?
The privatization of British Railways (BR) has been deeply controversial. Having concluded that the old BR had run out of financial and managerial steam, the Conservative Government of John Major embarked in 1992 on a radical reform program involvi...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/09/6364923/privatizing-british-railways-lessons-world-bank-borrowers http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17407 |
| Summary: | The privatization of British Railways
(BR) has been deeply controversial. Having concluded that
the old BR had run out of financial and managerial steam,
the Conservative Government of John Major embarked in 1992
on a radical reform program involving the breakup of the
formerly unitary system into over a hundred parts and their
subsequent privatization. The Bank's railway borrowers
often react to the British experience (and the similar
policies in the European Union requiring infrastructure
separation) by arguing either that the situation in the U.K.
was so particular that it has little application anywhere
else, or by asserting that the U.K experience was a
"failure" and should be ignored: this report
argues that neither assertion is true. Though the assertions
are convenient, governments cannot ignore their railways for
all the reasons outlined in a long series of World Bank
reports on railway restructuring. Aside from the sheer
financial and economic burden of an inefficient railway, the
non-market benefits of rail services in urban transport, in
relieving highway congestion and pollution management, and
in accident reduction, mandate government intervention if
they are to be maximized. Accepting the specifics of the
U.K. conditions, and with the acknowledged benefit of
hindsight, this report aims to draw some useful conclusions.
In short, both restructuring and private sector involvement
remain viable options; but, neither is a panacea and
implementing either requires care. |
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