Simon Linnett interviewed by Philip Benham

Made:
2018-09-17 in London
maker:
Philip Martin Benham

Oral history interview with Simon Linnett, conducted and recorded by Philip Benham at the interviewee's office in London on 17 September 2018. Duration: 1 hr. 12 min. 55 sec. Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister); privatisation; working as Director of Rothschild investment bank; rail privatisation proposals; 1992 Conservative manifesto; lack of government planning; attempt to gain employment as a Director of British Railways (BR); Rothschild advising on BR privatisation; BR preferred privatisation option; impact of EC Directive 91/440; Treasury Department philosophy; importance of Philip Rutnam (Civil Servant); privatisation structure; Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF); rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); creation of Railtrack; Rothschild advising Railtrack; valuation of assets; determining access charges; Thameslink 2000; Railtrack finances; performance regime; possessions regime; open access operators; cost of operating performance regime; order of privatisations; impact of 1997 General Election; prospect of re-nationalisation; investment prospectus drafting; working as lead advisor to Railtrack; Bob Horton; John Edmonds; reasons for not taking a job in rail industry; Gerald Corbett; role of Rail Regulator; John Swift; effectiveness of privatisation structure; reasons to reintegrate rolling stock and infrastructure; Rothschild advising Railtrack post-privatisation; major rail accidents; Railtrack collapse; Network Rail; challenges of privatisation; Privatisation Delivery Group (PDG)

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.

Details

Category:
Oral Histories
Collection:
Britain's Railways All Change
Object Number:
2022-46
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) oral history archive, created in partnership with the Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Retired Railway Officers’ Society and the National Railway Museum.