The British Railways Board was an independent statutory corporation responsible for running the British railway network from 1963. It was established by the Transport Act 1962, which abolished the British Transport Commission and divided its undertakings between five newly-created bodies: the British Railways Board, the British Waterways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the London Transport Board, and a Transport Holding Company. The British Railways Board was responsible for running the railway network, as well as managing government-owned railway hotels. Members of the British Railways Board were also appointed by the Minister for Transport. The first Chair of the British Railways Board was Dr Richard Beeching. The British Railways Board operated through regional boards, which were responsible for regional sections of the railway network. These regions were Southern, Western, London Midland, London and North Eastern, Eastern, and Scottish. Members of these regional boards were appointed by the British Railways Board, in consultation with the Minister for Transport. The British Railways Board also operated a series of committees to manage every aspect of railway control, including committees for finance, technical, works and property. These committees were frequently reorganised throughout the life of the British Railways Board, under both different Chairs of the Board and different governments. Several changes occurred during the 1960s. The Board had two new Chairs; Stanley Raymond, who replaced Richard Beeching in 1965, and his successor Henry Johnson, who became Chair in 1967. In 1968, the Transport Act transferred the control of the Sundries and Freightliner divisions from the British Railways Board to National Carriers Ltd and Freightliners Ltd. The Board retained a forty-nine per cent stake in Freightliners Ltd. During the 1970s, the British Railways Board created several subsidiary companies which were to manage some of its undertakings. These included British Transport Hotels Ltd, British Rail Engineering Ltd, and British Rail Hovercraft Ltd. Many of these subsidiary companies were sold under the Conservative governments of the 1980s. There were also two new Chairs during this time. Richard Marsh replaced Henry Johnson in 1971, and Peter Parker became chair in 1976. The privatisation of the British rail network during the 1990s radically changed the role of the British Railways Board. The Transport Act 1993 established Railtrack, a publicly-owned company. The Act transferred the ownership of track and railway infrastructure from the British Railways Board to Railtrack, in addition to the control of signals. Railtrack also replaced the British Railways Board as the body responsible for track investment and maintenance. The British Railways Board remained in existence after these changes, but only performed residual functions relating to pensions, liabilities, and non-operational railway land. The Board also continued to operate the British Transport Police service. The British Railways Board was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, which transferred the remaining functions of the Board to the newly-created Strategic Rail Authority.

British Steel Corporation (BSC) was a government-owned corporation established by the Iron and Steel Act of March 22, 1967 incorporating the ownership of 14 major steel companies in the United Kingdom: Colvilles Limited; Consett Iron Company Limited; Dorman, Long & Co., Limited; English Steel Corporation Limited; G.K.N. Steel Company Limited; John Summers & Sons Limited; The Lancashire Steel Corporation Limited; The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, Limited; Richard Thomas & Baldwins Limited; Round Oak Steel Works Limited; South Durham Steel and Iron Company Limited; The Steel Company of Wales Limited; Stewarts and Lloyds, Limited; and The United Steel Companies Limited. The organisation was converted to a limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It later merged and is now owned by Corus, a Tata Steel company.

The New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) also known as New Zealand Government Railways was a government department created in 1880. NZR acquired a number of private railways from 1886, including the Waimea Plains Railway Company and the New Zealand Midland Railway Company in 1898. The acquisition in 1908 of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company and its railway line marked the completion of the North Island Main Trunk from Wellington to Auckland after 23 years construction. In 1923 the West Coast line opens with the Otira tunnel containing the nation's first electric railway. In 1945 the South Island main trunk from Christchurch to Picton is completed and by 1953 the rail network reached its peak in terms of network reach at 5,689 kilometres. Between 1959 and 1971 numerous country branch lines close across the country as the steam era ends as NZR re-equipped lines with modern diesel locomotives. The NZR was reorganised in 1982 to become an independent commercial company called the New Zealand Railways Corporation.

RENFE (Spanish National Railways Network) was created in 1941, with the unification of the existing railway companies in Spain into a single state-owned company. In 1975, RENFE began a period of comprehensive reforms for the purpose of turning the Spanish railway network into an efficient alternative for transporting goods and passengers. As a result, Cercanías commuter services were introduced to cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga. In 1992 RENFE opened the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, coinciding with the opening of Expo'92. On 1 January 2005, RENFE’s legal monopoly came to an end and two successor companies were established; Renfe, responsible for transport of freight and passengers and Adif (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias) responsible for managing lines, stations and communications. RENFE was divided into Renfe-Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005.

Sudan Railways is the main railway system in Sudan, operated by the government-owned Sudan Railways Corporation. It runs over 5000km of narrow gauge, single-track railroads that serve the northern and central parts of the country. The main line underwent construction in 1875, completed in 1899, and runs from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, and southwest to Al Ubayyid via Sannar and Kosti. In 1904-5 a line between Swakin and Atbara was constructed with the two lines meeting at Saloom station, to facilitate export and import transportation. In 1906 the railway headquarters and workshops were moved from Wadi Halfa to Atbara, and since 1981 the company headquarters have been based in Khartoum. In the 1980’s Sudan Railways declined due to political instability and debt, with lines operating at only 20% capacity by 1989. In 2011-2012 a contract was signed to build a line from Nyala to Chad, extending to the capital of Chad, N’Djamena. In 2015 Sudan Railways had 60 trains available but which could only travel at 40km per hour due to poor track conditions, with President Omer Hassan al-Bashir promising modernisation of the Sudanese railways with Chinese funding.

Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) are a rolling stock company based in Nigel, South Africa and were founded in 1957. Their workshops are based in nearby Johannesburg. In 1964, Union Carriage & Wagon supplied locomotives to South African Railways. In 2013, Commuter Transport Engineering acquired UCW, however the name did not change.