KEYNOTE ADDRESS (RAIL PRIVATISATION)

This address by the Minister for Public Transport outlines the British Government's policy for privatising British railways and liberalising access to their tracks. Railways require responsive, adaptable management, with proper incentives to react to customers' needs. The Government believes that this objective is achieved best by introducing the stimulus of competition and the flexibility of private sector operation. Thus it plans to introduce in 1992 legislation to privatise British Rail (BR). Its policy of liberalisation aims to open access to rail infrastructure for operators who wish to provide a service. This policy has three phases: (1) asking BR to consider proposals by private sector operators sympathetically; (2) playing an active part in framing a European Commission (EC) Directive on the Development of European Railways; (3) providing a statutory right of access to the rail network for all types of domestic rail services. The Minister aims to set out the practical issues of liberalisation, and the careful way in which the Government is formulating its proposals. For the covering abstract see IRRD 855443.