OTHER NEWS - Oct. 12, 1995

Britain to Privatize Rail Track System: The government will privatize Railtrack, which owns Britain’s rail track system, next spring, Transport Secretary Sir George Young said. “To maintain our policy momentum, I can announce that we will sell shares in Railtrack next spring,” Young told the ruling Conservative Party’s annual conference. He said employees would have a stake in Railtrack but that there would be no bonanza for directors. Young did not say how much of Railtrack the government would float, nor did he indicate its stock market value. Plans to privatize Railtrack have run into increasing problems in recent months, and opposition Labor Party spokesman Michael Meacher warned prospective investors last week that they risked buying a “pig in a poke.”