Oral history interview with Monty Hiatt, conducted and recorded by Christopher Mew at the interviewee's home in Herefordshire on 11 December 2019. Duration: 14 min. 21 sec. Operational Research (OR) Management Trainee 1965; description of team; initial use of OR; John Prideaux; Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook (PDFH); role of OR until privatisation; British Railways Board used OR during privatisation; privatisation as threat to OR as a central body; change in OR’s role post-privatisation

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.