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'''Network Rail Limited''' is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and [[Railway infrastructure manager|infrastructure manager]] of most of the railway network in [[Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.networkrail.co.uk/ |title=Network Rail |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107014125/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/ |archivedate=7 November 2007 |
Network Rail's main customers are the private [[train operating company|train operating companies]] (TOCs), responsible for passenger transport, and [[freight operating company|freight operating companies]] (FOCs), who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains. Since 1 September 2014, Network Rail has been classified as a "public sector body".<ref name="The Guardian - Network Rail joins the public sector">{{cite news |last=Topham |first=Gwyn |title=Network Rail joins the public sector: but don't call it 'nationalisation' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/28/network-rail-piublic-sector-dont-call-it-nationalisation |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=12 June 2019 |ref=guardianpublicsector |date=28 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="Network Rail management and funding">{{cite web |title=How we're governed and managed |url=https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/how-we-work/how-were-governed-and-managed/ |website=Network Rail}}</ref>
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===Background===
{{See also|Railtrack|British Rail}}
[[Rail transport in Great Britain|Britain's railway system]] was built by private companies, but it was [[nationalisation|nationalised]] by the [[Transport Act 1947]] and run by [[British Rail]]ways until [[Privatisation of British Rail|re-privatisation]] which was begun in 1994 and completed in 1997.<ref>{{cite journal |url = https://www.socresonline.org.uk/7/1/strangleman.html |first = Tim |last = Strangleman |date = 2002 |title = Nostalgia for Nationalisation
A spate of accidents, including the [[Southall rail crash]] in 1997<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/19/newsid_2524000/2524283.stm |title = Six dead in Southall Train Disaster |work = BBC News |date = 19 September 1997}}</ref> and the [[Ladbroke Grove rail crash]] in 1999<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/467919.stm |title = Ladbroke Grove Crash |work = BBC News |date = 11 October 1999}}</ref> called into question the negative consequences that the fragmentation of the railway network had introduced to both safety and maintenance procedures. Railtrack was severely criticised for both its performance for infrastructure improvement and for its safety record.<ref name = "parliament summary2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |url = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036840903476379?journalCode=raec20 |title = The rise and fall of Railtrack PLC: an event study |journal = Applied Economics |volume = 43 |date = 2011 |issue = 23 |pages = 3143–3153|doi = 10.1080/00036840903476379 |last1 = Glass |first1 = Anthony |s2cid = 154603770 }}</ref> The [[Hatfield train crash]] on 17 October 2000 was a defining moment in the collapse of Railtrack.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_2491000/2491425.stm |title = Four dead in Hatfield Train Crash |work = BBC News |date = 17 October 2000 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080307134427/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_2491000/2491425.stm |archive-date = 7 March 2008 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> The immediate major repairs undertaken across the whole British railway network were estimated to have cost in the order of [[Pound sterling|£]]580 million and Railtrack had no idea how many more 'Hatfields' were waiting to happen because it had lost considerable in-house engineering skill following the sale or closure of many of the engineering and maintenance functions of [[British Rail]] to external companies; nor did the company have any way of assessing the consequence of the speed restrictions it was ordering. These restrictions brought the railway network to an almost total standstill and drew significant public ire.<ref name = "timeline guardian2002">{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jun/27/transport.uk |title = Timeline: Railtrack |newspaper = The Guardian |first1 = Mark |last1 = Tran |first2 = Sarah |last2 = Left |first3 = Philip |last3 = Pank |date = 27 June 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1482439/Hatfield-crash-was-disaster-waiting-to-happen.html |title = Hatfield crash "was disaster waiting to happen" |newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]] |date = 31 January 2005 |access-date = 22 August 2016 |archive-date = 10 February 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180210181641/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1482439/Hatfield-crash-was-disaster-waiting-to-happen.html |url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/989218.stm|title=Railtrack shuts down West Coast Main Line |work = BBC News |date = 25 October 2000 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131110021218/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/989218.stm|archive-date = 10 November 2013 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> According to Wolmar, Railtrack's board panicked in the wake of Hatfield.<ref>{{cite book |last = Wolmar |first = Christian |title = On the Wrong Line |publisher = Aurum Press |date = 2005 |isbn = 978-1-85410-998-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSMzj9wC_soC&pg=PT290|page=290|via=Google Books}}</ref> Railtrack's first chief executive, John Edmonds, had pursued a deliberate strategy of [[outsource|outsourcing]] engineers' work wherever possible with the goal of reducing costs.<ref name = "Edmonds obituarytelegraph">{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/05/27/john-edmonds-executive-forced-radical-changes-british-rail/ |title = John Edmonds, executive who forced through radical changes at British Rail – obituary |newspaper = The Telegraph |date = 27 May 2020}}</ref>
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