British Railways Board

The British Railways Board was a nationalized statutory corporation in the United Kingdom that operated from 1 January 1963 to October 2001, succeeding the British Transport Commission and operating most railway services in Great Britain under the brand names British Railways and, from 1965, British Rail. Governed by a chairman and nine to fifteen members appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, it was initially organized into six regions (Eastern, London Midland, North Eastern, Western, Southern and Scottish) before shifting in the 1980s to a sectoral model of InterCity, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways and Railfreight; beyond trains it also ran ferry services and hotels for much of its history, selling both in the 1980s. By 1994 it had become a holding company for more than 100 subsidiaries as railway privatization proceeded, and it survives in minimal form today holding Channel Tunnel Rail Usage Contract obligations under French law.