Tom Winsor joined White & Case in July 2004 after five years as the UK's Rail Regulator and International Rail Regulator.

As Rail Regulator, Tom was a member of the group of nine economic regulators of the UK (railways, energy, water, broadcasting, OFT, postal services, London Underground, energy (Northern Ireland) and water (Scotland)) which deals with issues of common interest and concern across the regulated sectors.

He was also the senior member of the Convention of European rail regulatory authorities, chaired by the European Commission. The Convention focuses on the establishment and operation of regulatory authorities for railways in the European Union, issues of development of efficient and economical market structures for railways and opportunities for competitive development and co-operation.

The Rail Regulator’s powers include:

• setting price controls for access to the national network of railway facilities (principally track and stations), through the requirement to determine the efficiency and activity levels necessary for the competent operation, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of the railway system
• determining the fair and efficient allocation of capacity of railway facilities, including ordering compulsory third-party access, and setting standard terms for access contracts issue, modification, compliance monitoring and enforcement of operating licences for railway assets
• development of industry-wide codes (particularly the network code) dealing with timetable development, changes to rolling stock and the network itself, the handling of operational disruption, transfer or access rights, local accountability, information provision and environmental protection
• acting as competition authority for the railways under the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002
• acting as appellate body for certain regulatory and legal disputes, including, in certain cases, of the establishment, amendment and abolition of safety standards.

Before his appointment as UK Rail Regulator, Tom was one of the UK's leading rail lawyers at a prominent City of London firm.

Tom's legal experience covers the railway, electricity and oil and gas industries, industry restructuring, the regulation of markets and advising both public and private sector clients on complex and high-value projects in those fields. He is also the co-author of Taylor and Winsor on Joint Operating Agreements, considered the standard legal text on upstream oil and gas ventures.

Achievements as Rail Regulator

During his time as Rail Regulator (1999-2004), Tom was responsible for some of the most complex, demanding and high-profile affairs in the rail industry.

These included:

• completely revising the financial framework of the railway industry, moving from enforcement regulation to incentive regulation and putting the infrastructure provider on a sound and sustainable financial footing; in October 2000, this involved a financial settlement for Railtrack of £15 billion (US$30 billion) for 2001-2006; in December 2003, Tom revised that settlement to £22.2 billion (US$44.4 billion) for Network Rail for 2004-2009
• reforming the infrastructure provider's accountability to the public interest through nine modifications of its network licence in matters such as: its stewardship of the national network; the establishment and maintenance of a reliable and comprehensive asset register; the setting up of the Rail Safety and Standards Board;  restrictions on the disposal of land; its dealings with dependent users and potential users of its network; the establishment of a system of independent reporters on the competence and efficiency of its operations; and its annual business plan
• establishing a new model for the contractual interface between the infrastructure provider and infrastructure users, recognising the intense interdependence of the constituent parts of the railway industry and converting the relationship from one of confrontation into a true commercial joint venture in which both parties derive benefit and want to make it work well.

Tom's experience regulating the railway industry in Great Britain has provided him with a unique insight into the dynamics and practice of regulation in other industries. The regulation of different types of network – rails, cables, pipes, wires, postal systems, ports or terminals – concerns essentially the same issues of price control, asset stewardship, access and competition. The practice and experiences of one industry frequently have parallels in others.

Between 1993 and 1995, Tom was Chief Legal Adviser and General Counsel to the first Rail Regulator. In this capacity he was responsible for the design and implementation of major parts of the regulatory and contractual matrix in what is probably the most complex UK industry restructuring and privatisation so far.

Private practice experience
Over 27 years, Tom has extensive experience advising government, public authority and private sector clients on the largest and most complex transport and energy ventures in the UK and abroad.

His work has included industry restructuring and privatisation, the franchising and concessioning of passenger rail services, rolling stock manufacture, sale, financing and leasing, accident investigations, major upgrades to railway networks and service patterns, the construction of new networks, freight transport and new freight terminals and facilities, competition investigations and new market entry, station development, regulatory hearings and appeals, including compulsory third party access to networks, the implementation and application of European Directives on capacity allocation and charging and the establishment of regulatory bodies, and major commercial and regulatory disputes before a variety of tribunals, including the English High Court and Court of Appeal and arbitral bodies in the UK, Europe and North America.

Particular projects from Tom's private practice experience include:

• the Makat-Kandyagash railway upgrade (Kazakhstan)
• the £7.6 billion upgrade of the West Coast Main Line (UK)
• the financing of Phase 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (UK)
• the $6 bn Saudi Landbridge project (Saudi Arabia)
• the 2,200 km North-South railway project (Saudi Arabia)
• the upgrade of the metropolitan metro in Manila (Philippines)
• the St Petersburg metro extension (Russia)
• the regulatory review for the London Underground (UK)
• the upgrade of the Stockholm metro (Sweden).

Tom is also very experienced in the energy industries, having worked since 1983 intensively in upstream oil and gas and electricity projects (including their financing) around the world.

Bars and Courts
England and Wales, 1991
Scotland, 1981

Education
Diploma in Petroleum Law, University of Dundee, 1983
LLB, (Scots Law), University of Edinburgh, 1979

Languages
English

Citizenship
British