BREL stands for British Rail Engineering Limited, which was the engineering division of British Rail until the design and building trains in the UK was privatised. In 1962, British Railways transferred control of all its main works to a central body called British Railways Workshops Division, with its headquarters in Derby. The Transport Act of 1968 allowed the railway to seek outside contracts and in 1970 the Workshops Division was renamed British Rail Engineering Limited. From nationalisati… (More on Brel)