Strategic Rail Authority

Organization responsible for giving a strategic direction to Britain's privatised railway system. Set up in July 1999 as the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA), it became the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in February 2001, after the Transport Act 2000 was passed. It was formed to address the concerns of the Labour government that privatization, carried out by the preceding Conservative administration, had fragmented the railway system.

The SRA has encouraged increased investment by Railtrack, using both its own funds and government grants, to modernize the infrastructure and increase passenger and freight capacity. Its plans to draw up a 10-year blueprint for development of the rail system were delayed by the crisis that affected the railways in the wake of the Hatfield crash in October 2000, which killed four people.

The SRA took over responsibility from the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF) for monitoring and managing the 25 passenger train franchises and has also assumed the residual functions of the British Railways Board and the consumer issues interests of the Rail Regulator. The SRA has sought to introduce longer train-operating franchises in return for commitments to higher levels of investment and service.

Safety on the railways is the responsibility of Railtrack and the train operating companies and is regulated by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate and not the SRA. The boundaries between the responsibilities of the SRA, the Rail Regulator, and the Department of the Environment, Transport, and the Regions remain somewhat unclear.