Richard Wightman interviewed by Peter Willey

Made:
2018-03-06 in Milton Keynes
maker:
Gordon John Dudman

Oral history interview with Richard Wightman, conducted and recorded by Peter Willey on 6 March 2018 at the interviewee's office in Milton Keynes. Duration: 1 hr. 20 min. 51 sec. Management trainee; Traffic Manager; Retail Manager; Quality Manager Great Eastern; Retail Manager West Midlands; privatisation; passenger track access contracts negotiations; initial workload high; management supervision; competition for experienced staff; Railtrack organisation; performance regimes problematic; performance regime benchmarks and disincentives; Account Executive South Eastern Trains and Eurostar; Headquarters Strategy Team; issues from West Coast Mainline Upgrade; Railtrack in Administration; industrial relations post-privatisation; separation of industry post-privatisation introduced inefficiencies; personal background

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.

Details

Category:
Oral Histories
Collection:
Britain's Railways All Change
Object Number:
2020-254
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Courtesy of Richard Wightman. Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) oral history archive, created in partnership with the Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Retired Railway Officers’ Society and the National Railway Museum.