Richard Brown interviewed by Chris Kinchin-Smith

Made:
2019-07-03 in London
maker:
Chris Kinchin-Smith

Oral history interview with Richard Brown, conducted and recorded by Chris Kinchin-Smith at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Birdcage Walk, London on 3 July 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 21 min. 19 sec. Early career; Personal Assistant to Jim O’Brien and Geoff Myers (British Rail (BR) Joint Managing Directors); Business Planning Manager Intercity 1985-1988; sectorisation; Cyril Bleasdale; John Prideaux; InterCity required to eliminate subsidy by 1988; InterCity Manager West Coast Main Line (WCML) 1988; Organising for Quality (OfQ); relationships with British Rail: London Midland Region; investment in infrastructure over tilting trains; Director InterCity for Midland Main Line (MML) and CrossCountry; leadership challenges; staff attitudes towards privatisation; success of vertical integration; relationships with Railtrack; management buyout (MBO); elected first Chairman of Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC); MBO bid unsuccessful; management transferred on to work with National Express; reasons for MBO bid failure; appointed Chief Executive National Express Trains Division; acquisition of Prism train operating companies (TOCs); ensuring strong management team for each TOC; appointed to National Express Board as Group Commercial Director; relationship with Strategic Rail Authority (SRA); Alastair Moreton; Richard Bowker; TOC and parent companies development; First Group; comparison of TOCs over time; Network Rail; recommendations from the Department for Transport (DfT)’s Brown Report into TOC franchising; South Western Railway (SWR); Williams Review; Transport for London (TfL) concession model; reflections on Railtrack and Network Rail; comparisons with working at Eurostar; High Speed 1 project management; European franchising models; reflections on career; environmental initiatives

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:
2020-444
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Courtesy of Richard Brown, former Chairman and Cheif Executive Officer of Eurostar. 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.