The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but on 3 October 2002, the main operating arm-the owner and operator of the national railway network, Railtrack plc-was sold by its parent company Railtrack Group plc to " not for dividend " company Network Rail ( a company limited by guarantee ) and was later renamed Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd.

Railtrack Group plc was renamed RT Group plc and was dissolved on 22 June 2010.

Founded under Conservative legislation that privatised the railways, Railtrack took control of the railway infrastructure on 1 April 1994 and was floated on the Stock Exchange in May 1996.

Railtrack was severely criticised for both its performance in improving the railway infrastructure and for its safety record.

Between its creation and late 1998, the company had a relatively calm relationship with its first economic regulator, John Swift QC, whose strategy was to encourage Railtrack to make commitments to improvement.

At times the relationship was stormy, with Railtrack resisting pressure to improve its performance.

In April 2000 it was reported in the Guardian that " Railtrack is adopting a deliberate ' culture of defiance ' against the rail regulator ".

Railtrack plc was placed into railway administration under the Railways Act 1993 on 7 October 2001, following an application to the High Court by the then Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers.

The parent company, Railtrack Group plc, was not put into administration and continued operating its other subsidiaries, which included property and telecommunications interests.

To get Railtrack out of administration, the government had to go back to the High Court and present evidence that the company was no longer insolvent.

Network Rail was formed with the principal purpose of acquiring and owning Railtrack plc.

Network Rail's acquisition of Railtrack plc was welcomed at the time by groups that represented British train passengers.

Railtrack's parent company, Railtrack Group, was placed into members ’ voluntary liquidation as RT Group on 18 October 2002.

£ 370 million held by Railtrack Group was frozen at the time the company went into administration and was earmarked to pay Railtrack shareholders an estimated 70p a share in compensation.

A lawyer speaking for one of those groups remarked on GMTV that his strategy was to sue the government for incorrect and misleading information given at the time Railtrack was created, when John Major was Conservative Prime Minister.

An increased offer of up to 262p per share was enough to convince the larger shareholder group, the Railtrack Action Group, to abandon legal action.

Rix founded the group Take Back the Track, which was successful in turning Railtrack into a not-for-profit publicly owned company in 2001.

Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack, whilst passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators ( originally there were 25 franchises ) and the freight services sold outright ( six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer ).

Because most of the engineering skill of British Rail had been sold off into the maintenance and renewal companies, Railtrack had no idea how many Hatfields were waiting to happen, nor did they have any way of assessing the consequence of the speed restrictions they were ordering-restrictions that brought the railway network to all but a standstill.

Originally the Government allowed private companies to bid for Railtrack plc.

Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack, passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators ( originally there were 25 franchises ) and the freight services sold outright ( six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer ).

He franchised passenger rail services to private companies including Virgin, Connex ( now known as Veolia Transport ) and the coach companies Stagecoach and National Express, and floated the national railway track and signalling company Railtrack on the London Stock Exchange in 1996.

He sold British Rail's track maintenance and renewal operations to private companies, with contracts to provide infrastructure services to Railtrack.

Railtrack collapsed in highly controversial circumstances in October 2001, and in October 2002 the company emerged from railway administration, a special state of insolvency for railway companies created by the Railways Act 1993, as Network Rail.

The aftermath of the Hatfield crash led to severe financial difficulties for Railtrack and just under a year later-on 7 October 2001-the company was put into railway administration ( a special kind of insolvency for railway companies which ensures continuity of operation of railway services ) by the British High Court on the application of the then Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers.

The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks, signalling, and stations – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail, which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002.

Examples from the last five years in the United Kingdom include the vesting of the British railway infrastructure firm Railtrack in the not-for-profit company Network Rail, and the divestment of much council housing stock to " arms-length management companies ", often with mutual status.

The station and the railway that it served experienced several changes in management, being owned in turn by the London and Birmingham Railway ( 1837 – 1845 ), the London and North Western Railway ( 1846 – 1922 ), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway ( 1923 – 1947 ), British Railways ( 1948 – 1994 ), Railtrack ( 1994 – 2001 ) and Network Rail ( 2001 – present )

Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the station became owned by Railtrack and later Network Rail, though, in common with most British railway stations, the day-to-day operation was contracted out to the largest user of the station, in this case Midland Mainline ( East Midlands Trains ' predecessor ).

With privatisation came open-access railways — the track and infrastructure were owned and operated by Railtrack, who for a fee would allow approved locomotives and trains to operate on their track.

Railtrack who owned most of the canal transferred ownership in 2005 for the sum of £ 1, to Teignbridge District Council for leisure use by the community.

Initially part of British Rail Network SouthEast, the line was privatised in 1994, the track being owned by Railtrack ( subsequently Network Rail ) with the passenger service provided by the North London Railways franchise.

On 1 April 1994 railway infrastructure became the responsibility of public limited company Railtrack, initially Government owned.

The land, from Highbury, comprised a rubbish processing plant and industrial estate, 80 % owned by the Islington London Borough Council, Railtrack and Sainsbury's.

Planning permission for an all-seater Railway Stand was granted in March 1995, but work was delayed by a dispute over land owned by Railtrack and the stand opened only in 1999.

However, after government owned company Network Rail replaced Railtrack, they stopped negotiations and broke off the deal, stating that they would only deal with a local authority.

Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the station became owned by Railtrack and later Network Rail, though, in common with most British railway stations, the day-to-day operation is contracted out to the principal user of the station, in this case East Midlands Trains.

Following the Hatfield accident, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1, 200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated an extremely costly nationwide track replacement programme.

The crash exposed the shortcomings of Railtrack, which consequently saw speed restrictions and major track replacement.

Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack, whilst passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators ( originally there were 25 franchises ) and the freight services sold outright.

Following the Hatfield accident, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1, 200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated an extremely costly nationwide track replacement programme.

Ownership of track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994 ( replaced by Network Rail in 2002 ), with passenger operations franchised afterwards to 25 individual private-sector operators and freight services sold outright.

Railtrack was placed into administration on 7 October 2001 and, the following year, its functions as the track owner were taken over by Network Rail, which is a company limited by guarantee, nominally in the private sector but with members instead of shareholders and its borrowing guaranteed by the government.

The consequences of the Hatfield accident in 2000 caused Railtrack to undertake large-scale track relaying without sufficient planning, and much of the work was substandard and subsequently had to be re-done.

In 1997, the CRT obtained funding to carryout a business study of the plans, and subsequently agreed to purchase the track from Railtrack.

In 2001 the track operator Railtrack plc went bankrupt ; it was reconstituted and renamed as Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd., a private company with no legal owner but effectively government-controlled via its constitution and financing.

On 1 April 1994 Railtrack and EPS signed a fixed-rate track access contract lasting until 29 July 2052 as part of the plans for Regional Eurostar services.