David Blake interviewed by Frank Paterson

Oral history interview with David Blake, conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson at the National Railway Museum, York on 13 February 2020. Duration: 1 hr. 17 min. 41 sec. Career overview; re-structuring British Rail Engineering Ltd. (BREL); working with John Welsby; Director of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering (DM&EE) British Railways Board (BRB); Bob Reid 2; John Welsby; division of responsibilities; Channel Tunnel route; John Prideaux; attitudes to privatisation; commitments; Managing Director Vendor Unit; created structure and team; remit; government pressure for quick wins; Meldon Quarry; Special Trains Unit; bid process; merchant bank involvement; British Rail Telecommunications (BRT) sale; trade unions stance; increasing delegation to units; Railfreight; Freightliner; rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); British Rail Infrastructure Services (BRIS); Jim Cornell; working with Department of Transport (DoT); ranking of sales priorities; timescale effects; personal approach; value for money; reflections

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.