Date: 31/01/2016

Britains first privatised train service, which ran 20 years ago this week, was a bus. In the early hours of 4 February 1996, a handful of passengers travelling from Fishguard to Cardiff in South Wales found themselves on the A40 trunk road. Engineering work meant the brave new world of privatisation began with a rail-replacement service from Fishguard to Cardiff. As the train drivers union, Aslef, says with a touch of irony, The honour of working the first privatised train fell to the crew of the 05.10 Twickenham to Waterloo.

External links

Britain's railways are doing well despite privatisation

Independent

As calls grow for renationalisation, 20 years on, our Travel Correspondent Simon Calder argues that the network is a victim of its own success

Related images

Class 455 5707 nears Twickenham with a Waterloo-bound train, looking west from from London Road bridge in 1987. The original Twickenham station was located in the foreground, the present station to the east of the bridge dates from 1954. Twickenham Junction is in the distance.
Location: Twickenham [1st]
Company: Windsor, Staines and South Western (Richmond to Windsor) Railway
/01/1987 Bill Roberton

Class 450 electric units on Portsmouth line services operated by South West Trains, standing at the buffer stops at Waterloo Station on 24 July 2005.
Location: Waterloo
Company: London and South Western Railway
24/07/2005 John Furnevel

An InterCity 125 HST arriving at Cardiff Central in 1990 on a service from Paddington.
Location: Cardiff Central
Company: South Wales Railway
/08/1990 John McIntyre