Wisconsin Central buying Loadhaul/Mainline/Transrail etc

[90sWereBetter]

I'm sure this question has been asked dozens of times, but how did Wisconsin Central get permission from the competition authorities to buy all three of the BR railfreight franchises, plus Parcels and the remaining bit of Railfreight Distribution? Given how active the Monopolies and Mergers Commission was in other parts of the transport industry during the 1990s (hello Stagecoach!), surely they would have taken the view that one company controlling five of the six BR railfreight companies wasn't a good thing for privatisation.

Was it just a case of the Major government wanting to get railfreight into the private sector as quickly as possible.

 

[43096]

I'm sure this question has been asked dozens of times, but how did Wisconsin Central get permission from the competition authorities to buy all three of the BR railfreight franchises, plus Parcels and the remaining bit of Railfreight Distribution? Given how active the Monopolies and Mergers Commission was in other parts of the transport industry at the time (hello Stagecoach!), surely they would have taken the view that one company controlling five of the six railfreight companies wasn't a good thing for privatisation.

Was it just a case of the Major government wanting to get railfreight into the private sector as quickly as possible?

In simple terms rail freight isn't a monopoly - there is plenty of competition in the freight transport market.

 

[6Gman]

I'm sure this question has been asked dozens of times, but how did Wisconsin Central get permission from the competition authorities to buy all three of the BR railfreight franchises, plus Parcels and the remaining bit of Railfreight Distribution? Given how active the Monopolies and Mergers Commission was in other parts of the transport industry during the 1990s (hello Stagecoach!), surely they would have taken the view that one company controlling five of the six BR railfreight companies wasn't a good thing for privatisation.

Was it just a case of the Major government wanting to get railfreight into the private sector as quickly as possible.

My understanding was that the offer was on the basis of "we want them all or we'll walk away" and - in the absence of other significant interest - the competition principle was conveniently parked.

 

[randyrippley]

As I recall it, the press at the time implied it was the only offer on the table: no-one else was interested.
And don't forget Wisconsin didn't get everything: Freightliner was sold separately to a different buyer, so there was a degree of potential competition

 

[WesternLancer]

I seem to recall an account published somewhere not so long ago (maybe one of Christian Wolmar's books on BR history or on privatisation which seems probable as I've read them not so long ago) describing a meeting between Wisconsin Central (probably Mr Burkhardt) and the Minister (John MacGregor as sec of state perhaps or Roger Freeman) where essentially the Ministry were pretty desperate to find anyone who would be interested in buying any of the freight companies that had been set up separately ahead of privatisation and Wisconsin Central were one of the few if the only one interested and argued they would take the lot, or only interested in taking the lot more likely.

The government were not in a strong position.

 

[Helvellyn]

Splitting Trainload Freight into three regional companies was probably the mistake.

If say Coal/Petroleum had been grouped and Metals/Aggregates then possibly two national companies could have been created that could have branched out (as Freightliner did).

Was never sure why Freightliner was carved out of RfD either.

Parcels could possibly have been hived off to Royal Mail. They might have been more willing to invest longer term if they owned it. After Railnet was created always thought it a travesty the relationship between EWS and Royal Mail seemed to break down leading to the huge withdrawal from rail.