Graham Eccles interviewed by Mike Hodson

Oral history interview with Graham Eccles, conducted and recorded by Mike Hodson in East Sussex on 17 April 2018. Duration: 1 hr. 42 min. 43 sec. Early career; Margaret Thatcher delay meeting; mentored by Gordon Pettitt; sectorisation; Chris Green; John Prideaux; General Manager of Southern Region and Anglia Region; privatisation model; London, Tilbury & Southend ticket fraud; South Central sale; John Welsby; bus companies prior experience of privatisation; Peter Field at South Western partnership with Compagnie Generale des Eaux (CGE) (Connex); Brian Souter; Stagecoach; Connex; privatisation model seen as flawed; separation of track and trains; reflections on Stagecoach; acquisition of Porterbrook rolling stock company (ROSCO); appointment of Geoff Mee; leading Stagecoach bids for subsequent franchises; Island Line; South West Trains (SWT); Operations Director SWT; driver shortage; Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) exploit industry structure to increase pay; profits driven by passenger numbers; Chief Operating Officer Rail Stagecoach Group; Non-Executive Director Network Rail; acquisition of Porterbrook; ROSCOs successfully privatised; fares innovation; unaligned objectives and directions; separation of track and trains remains unresolved; advising on the 2005 Transport Act; working at No.10 Downing Street Delivery Unit; Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC); quality of management; improvements in South West Trains; measuring success; facilitating change to Network Rail; rail privatisation overseas

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.