John Drake interviewed by Charles Devereux

Made:
2018-10-04 in London
maker:
Charles Devereux

Oral history interview with John Drake, conducted and recorded by Charles Devereux at the interviewee's office at Bird & Bird LLP, Fetter Lane, London on 4 October 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 15 min. 1 sec. Personal background; commercial barrister; engineering roles; headhunted by Alan Winton of Russell Reynolds for British Rail (BR) 1993; making British Rail Telecommunications (BRT) into separate business; joining BRT as Chief Executive; visiting neglected parts of system; transfer of 3000 staff into BRT; development of network uses; business plan; relationship with Railtrack; contract structure matrix developed; key problems; BRT designed to serve the railway; formalising externalities with Railtrack and customers; Bird & Bird law firm; railway culture; political background; encounters with Department for Transport (DfT); new safety culture; improving efficiency; cost reduction; widening of recruitment; BRT role as subcontractor to infrastructure companies; privatisation process; Racal; process did not realise potential; transition; public vs private sector attitudes; threatened strike at Preston

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:
2020-280
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Courtesy of John Drake. 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.