Land from railway lines and other facilities closed during the great network reductions in the 1960s and early 1970s was sold off by British Rail as best / much as they could - but some elements were retained because they were not saleable or just might be required for re-use. Amongst those retained were significant structures such as viaducts and tunnels, where demolition / disposal was not an option.
Once British Railways was wound up, the
BRB‡ residuary body got ownership of the remaining unwanted bits, where the wanted (live) bits went on via the Railtrack route and are now within the Network Rail portfolio.
BRB residuary made some effort to sell or offload its resources. Here in Melksham, we are delighted that Wiltshire Council invested in the old goods yard site, as BRB considered it of no future rail use but we thought (and have proven) them wrong - half is now a rail car park, and as I write the other half is a rail construction yard for the platform enhancement - with other rail plans anticipated when that use is complete.
The remaining BRB Residuary body land and structure assets were transferred to Highways England when the residuary body was itself wound up, and the task of safety inspections, keeping structure safe, and potentially finding new uses passed on, subcontracted to Carillion ... who have now gone out of business ... and to Balfour Beatty.
From
Rail Engineer, confirmation that Balfour Beatty are now looking after the whole estate.
This continued inspection and maintaining safe is important - in an era where the pendulum has swung from shrinkage to a very modest and hard-fought expansion, the presence of an asset even in mothballed or degraded form may make the difference between a new scheme's viability and failure - so I'm posting this in the "campaigns for new lines and services" area.
Edit to correct text - Thanks to Ellendune for pointing the error out.
