The London Underground Public Private Partnership 1997-2010: No Way to Run a Railway

Stephen Glaister

Jan 2025 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Ebook

226

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

This book provides an inside account of the intense battle between London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Chancellor Gordon Brown, and Prime Minister Tony Blair over control of the London Underground and the failed implementation of the UK's largest Private Finance Initiative and Public-Private Partnership deal. Despite spending over £450 million on consultancy and five years of government effort, the project collapsed after just seven of its intended 30 years. Using documents released under confidentiality, the book details New Labour's persistence even as the plan fell apart under scrutiny. It reveals personal struggles, political spin, and character assassinations, while analysing technical issues and expert predictions of failure. The book offers lessons on large-scale public service procurement, comparing private and public ownership, efficient borrowing, consultant use, and the importance of scrutiny and accountability.

About the author

Stephen Glaister is Professor Emeritus of Transport and Infrastructure at Imperial College London and Visiting Professor at The

London School of Economics, both in the UK. He was Chair Office of Rail and Road 2016-18; Director the RAC Foundation 2008-15; member of the Board of Transport for London 2000-08; Partnership Director, Tube Lines plc, 2007-10 and non-executive director of London Regional Transport from 1984-93. He was a member of the Steering Group for the 2004 National Road Pricing Feasibility Study, a member of the “Friends” group advising Sir Rod Eddington on his 2006 Transport Study, and a member of the advisory panel to the Oakervee Review of HS2, 2000. He was a member of the Government's first Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment and a Specialist Advisor to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Transport. He has published widely on transport policy and regulation in the telecommunications, water and gas industries.

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