Mike Harvey interviewed by Philip Benham

Oral history interview with Mike Harvey, conducted and recorded by Philip Benham at the interviewee's home in Redditch on 26 June 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 27 min. 21 sec. Career synopsis; Compagnie Auxiliaire de Chemins de Fer Belge (CAIB); private wagons; Storage & Transport Services UK (STS UK); Traffic Services Ltd. (TSL); takeover of TSL and expansion; purchase of Procor UK 1988; responsibilities in CAIB; Marcroft Engineering customers and contract types; Tiphook and Tiger Rail acquisitions; CAIB philosophy towards legislative change; EC Directive 91/440; Private Wagon Federation (PWF): Chairman Wagon Builders’ & Repairers’ Association; Chairman Association of Private Rail Wagon Operators; private owner wagons operations; 1923 Grouping; Railway Clearing House; private wagon industry representation for privatisation; preparing Railfreight for privatisation; Robert Adley (Member of Parliament); Representations on Railways Bill 1992; privatisation process; Ed Burkhardt (Wisconsin Central); English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS); new industry relationships; vehicle repair and maintenance standards; Rickerscote accident; changes triggered by EWS; rail freight market emergence; Railtrack national distribution business Railtrack contract management

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.