Jim Cornell interviewed by Frank Paterson (session 1 of 2)

Oral history interview with Jim Cornell, conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson (session 1) at Network Rail Headquarters, 1 Eversholt Street, London on 15 October 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 13 min. 51 sec. British Rail (BR) Civil Engineer 5 year Student Apprentice; Chartered Engineer 1964; Divisional Engineer; bank slips; Great Northern electrification; man management; National Union of Railwayman (NUR) relationships; track speed restrictions; impact of Tyne & Wear Metro work; Scotland problems; Pitlochry derailment; Deputy General Manager; Regional Councils and Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE); Manning agreement disputes; General Manager 1987; Motherwell derailment; National Infrastructure Cost Review; preparation for privatisation; preparation of British Rail Infrastructure Services (BRIS) for sale; personal workload; golden handcuffs protection; management buyouts (MBOs); contracts with Railtrack difficult; retirement from BR December 1996; speedy sales undervalued units; poor relations with Railtrack; split maintenance from renewals; invitation to join Railtrack Board for year; Network Rail Board 7 years; chaired safety committee; speed of change; Organising for Quality (OfQ); interference from Department of Transport (DoT); trade unions ineffective; Jimmy Knapp

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.