ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that ministers had barely considered key implications of the track authority model before publishing the White Paper and suggests that, as a result, they were unclear as to whether some aspects of the proposals would be capable of achieving what was expected of them. It investigates how and why this situation arose. The Conservatives’ proposals for rail privatisation were formally unveiled in the 1992 White Paper New Opportunities for the Railways. Debates within and around the Conservative Party concerning the privatisation and liberalisation of the railway industry were protracted, some even pre-dating the election of the first Thatcher administration in 1979. Despite the absence of a governmental commitment to rail privatisation, the Department of Transport’s initial enthusiasm aroused debate among interested observers regarding how British Railways might be sold. By the late 1980s, considerable emphasis was being placed by Conservative parliamentarians and think tanks upon the importance of liberalising the rail market.
