Oral history interview with Chris Stokes, conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson at the National Railway Museum, York on 12 June 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 55 min. 41 sec. Deputy Director Network SouthEast; joining Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF); team recruitment process; relationships with Brian Mawhinney (Secretary of State for Transport); OPRAF policy decisions; track access agreements; Chiltern Trains; performance bond; rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); moderation of competition; John Welsby; franchise process; initial revenue growth; bidder market development; London, Tilbury & Southend (LTS) management buyout (MBO); ROSCO sale process; bid analysis; Ivor Warburton; sleeper services; passenger transport executives (PTEs); Save our Railways; relationships with Department for Transport (DfT); quality improvements; franchising system shortcomings; John Prescott; Strategic Rail Authority (SRA); Alastair Morton; culture change

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.