Off the rails? - The main concerns of the UK's privatised rail sector - including job security, recruitment, pay, flexibility and partnership - in many respects reflect the key employee relations issues in the wider economy. Yet the rail industry has had to deal with these issues against the most troubled background imaginable: since 1997, the network has suffered a series of major disasters. We review how the sector's industrial relations have been transformed in recent years. As our analysis shows, some firms have been able to extract concessions from the workforce and introduce more flexible working practices in return for significantly improved pay and conditions. Our research includes interviews with an HR manager at one of the largest rail operators, EWS, and the assistant general secretary of train drivers' union ASLEF.