Oral history interview with Stuart Baker, conducted and recorded by David Wharton-Street (session 2) at the interviewee's home in York on 4 December 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 9 min. 56 sec. Mersey Travel Ltd. (MTL); transfer of staff; MTL and passenger transport executives (PTEs); track access agreement; Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF); Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC); delays mechanism; MTL reasons for handing back franchise; Arriva appointment; working in Denmark; joining Strategic Rail Authority (SRA); Chris Kinchin-Smith; West Coast Passenger Upgrade 2 (PUG2); rolling stock; CrossCountry; abolition of SRA; West Coast problems; transfer to Department for Transport (DfT); objections to PUG2; Network Rail/Virgin West Coast commitment to December 2008 timetable change; network development; Reading station; Hitachi Class 821/2; feasibility of Midland Main Line (MML) electrification; High Speed 2 (HS2); electrification; TransPennine; Chairman of British Railways Board; thoughts on privatisation; franchise flexibility; assessment of career

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.