Save our Railways 1903 - 2001

Save our Railways was an all-party national alliance combating the privatisation of rail networks in the United Kingdom. Founded in March 1993 by Robert Adley, a Conservative MP and chairman of the Transport Committee at the House of Commons, and Brian Wilson, Labour spokesperson on transport, the alliance was co-sponsored by the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, the Railway Development Society, Transport 2000, the Better Rail Campaign of RMT and TSSA, and the Save Our System campaign of ASLEF, in addition to support by environmental and other charity organisations.

The campaign’s mandate was to oppose government plans for the rail network to become privatised. Mobilised in 1993 in response to the bill pre-dating the Railways Act 1993, the campaign addressed this objective through various organisational functions, including setting up working groups with Labour MPs, responding to green papers, arranging protests and information events for citizens, producing publications and newsletters on current events, milestones, and action engagements, publishing impact surveys, evidence, and analyses, and lodging legal challenges and participating in legal proceedings. Notable campaigns included TrainWatch, the Ghost Train stunt, the lodging of legal complaints on the Passenger Service Requirement, Watford (1997), and the British Rail Right to Bid (1996). They developed relationships with pressure groups, trade union members, activists of other campaigns, rail industry professionals and stakeholders, and MPs to push their agenda. Their aims were to secure a rail network that was convenient, fast, reliable, safe, and equal.

Jonathan Bray and Keith Bill coordinated the campaign until the project was absorbed by the Campaign for Better Transport (then Transport 2000) in 2001. There, it was absorbed into the Platform initiative.