Oral history interview with John Swift, conducted and recorded by Dick Fearn at Monckton Chambers, London on 13 November 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 10 min. 16 sec. Personal background; legal career; appointment as first Rail Regulator; competition within monopolies; difference between Rail Regulator and Franchising Director; regulation in different privatised industries; privatising Railtrack earlier; regulation of Railtrack; regulation of passenger train operating companies (TOCs); public interest; delays to franchising process; relationships; track access agreements; Railtrack funding; rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); open access; EC Directive 91/440; separation of track and trains; accountability of Rail Regulator; Gwyneth Dunwoody; John MacGregor; Roger Freeman; John Prescott; retirement; setting-up Office of the Rail Regulator; Chair of Judges National Rail Awards

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.