Aidan Nelson interviewed by David Wharton-Street

Oral history interview with Aidan Nelson, conducted and recorded by David Wharton-Street at the interviewee's home near York on 4 April 2018. Duration: 3 hr. 13 min. 25 sec. Early career; Market Research Officer York 1979; level of market knowledge; Regional Railways relationship with British Railways Board (BRB); Open Stations Project Manager; Railfreight Construction; Railfreight Organising for Quality (OfQ) bid; safety panel with John Edmonds; impact of Clapham accident; appointed Director of Regional Railways North East; movement of functions into sectors; transition from regional structure; meeting with John MacGregor; relationship with Gordon Pettitt and Jim Cornell (Directors of Regional Railways); TransPennine Express upgrade; move to Railtrack; Railtrack planning; Railtrack North East Zone safety validation straightforward; Railtrack property relationships; focus shift to infrastructure; Railtrack first day; introducing management to employees; focus on actions within sphere of influence; focus on train performance 1994-1995; encouraging staff investment in Railtrack 1996; appointment to Railtrack safety organisation; Line Safety achievements; Walking the Safety Case course; safety induction process for Directors 1997; David Rayner (Director Safety and Standards Directorate) concerns; safety briefing with Gerald Corbett; departure from Line Safety; responsibilities; annual signals passed at danger (SPAD) management conferences; development of Safety Plans; Railtrack challenge to Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 notice; distancing S&SD from operations; open reporting of safety performance; Safety Plans; involvement with Channel Tunnel; rolling stock acceptance process; setting-up independent railway safety organisation; European integration; work in North America; detachment of Railway Safety from Railtrack 2002; Impact of uncertainty on personal life; RSSB research organisation set-up; concern over continuity in standards; disaggregation of standards; personal thoughts on privatisation; understanding of railways as system

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.