Oral history interview with Michael Lee, conducted and recorded by David Wharton-Street (session1) at the interviewee's home in Hertfordshire on 15 May 2019. Duration: 2 hr. 53 min. 12 sec. Early career; Operational Research; British Rail Engineering Inventory Control; traffic forecasting for small bore version of Channel Tunnel; development and implementation of Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services (ORCATS); sectorisation made possible; Serpell Report; challenged by British Rail (BR); forecasting passenger train loadings and revenue; introduction of Class 43 High Speed train (HST); Age of the Train advertising; InterCity service modelling; move to Network SouthEast (NSE) as Economic Survey Officer; change in passenger loadings; London and South East travelcards; Central London Rail Study; Thameslink; Crossrail; Monopolies & Mergers Commission (M&MC) inquiry into NSE; monitoring passenger satisfaction; second inquiry; Service Route Manager; negotiating with Southern Region management who delivered service; interface between General Manager Southern Region and NSE; Organising for Quality (OfQ); Sub-Sector Planning & Marketing Manager; Head of Strategic Planning NSE; train operating units (TOUs); Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF); structure; liaison with BR and Department for Transport (DfT); development of Passenger Service Requirement (PSR) policy; Save Our Railways; passenger transport executives (PTEs); fares regulation; Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC); Rail Settlement Plan (RSP); fares and franchising; subsidy; types of franchise bidders

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.