Sonia Braybrook interviewed by Frank Paterson (session 1 of 2)

Oral history interview with Sonia Braybrook, conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson (session 1) at the interviewee's home in Lincolnshire on 21 January 2020. Duration: 40 min. 24 sec. Early career; British Rail (BR) Legal Department structure; move to Parliamentary division; Terence Jenner; freight contracts; job satisfaction; Railways Act 1993; becoming self accounting unit (SAU); Terence Jenner key to consistency and controls of privatisation; scale of task; external assistance; track access agreements; negotiations with Railtrack and shadow Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR); completing Railtrack vesting; Martin Shrubshole; Peter Trewin; range of contracts; impact on personal life

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.