Robin Gisby interviewed by David Maidment

Oral history interview with Robin Gisby, conducted and recorded by David Maidment in Victoria, London on 12 October 2018. Duration: 1 hr. 35 min. 30 sec. Personal background; Chloride; Arthur D. Little consultants; freight distribution trends; privatisation opportunities; GKN Tiger Rail joint venture; Charterail joint venture GKN/British RaiI (BR); successes and problems; lessons from Charterail; headhunted by Railtrack Freight; Railtrack culture and aims; John Edmonds; share price; Railtrack acquisition of Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL); West Coast Main Line (WCML) upgrade; Zone Director York/Waterloo; Network Rail Director Operations 2005; transition to Network Rail; maintenance privatisation; resignation; Chairman LNER; hybrid train operating company (TOC) and infrastructure management; nationalisation; BR management training and development; management recruitment problems; former BR staff quality; longevity of railway knowledge; the future

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.