Rail Transport in Great Britain
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The railway system of Great Britain started with the building of local isolated wooden wagonways beginning in the 1560s. A patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies developed in the late 18th century. These isolated links expanded during the railway boom of the 1840s into a national network, although still run by dozens of competing companies. These amalgamated or were bought by competitors throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries until only a handful of larger companies remained.
On 1 January 1923, almost all the railway companies were grouped into the Big Four: the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway companies.
Under the name of British Railways, at the start of 1948, the railways were nationalised. The desire for profitability led to a significant reduction in the network during the mid-1960s. As a result, Dr Richard Beeching was given the task by the Government of re-organising the railways ("the Beeching Axe").
Between 1994 and 1997, The Government privatised British Rail. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack. Since privatisation, the number of passengers has multiplied.
By 2010, the railways were carrying more passengers than at any time since the 1920s. And by 2014, passenger numbers had expanded to their highest level ever, more than doubling in the 20 years since privatisation. As a result, train fares cost more than under British Rail.
Since April 2016, the British railway network has been severely disrupted on many occasions by wide-reaching rail strikes, affecting rail franchises across the country.
Following the Hatfield accident on 17 October 2000, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated an extremely costly nationwide track replacement programme. The consequential severe operational disruption to the national network and the company's spiralling costs set in motion the series of events that resulted in the ultimate collapse of the company and its replacement with Network Rail, a state-owned, not-for-dividend company.
History of Rail Transport in Great Britain
Before 1830: The pioneers
A wagonway, essentially a railway powered by animals drawing the cars or wagons, was used by German miners at Caldbeck, Cumbria, England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away.
Another wagonway was Sir Francis Willoughby's Wollaton Wagonway in Nottinghamshire, built between 1603 and 1604 to carry coal.
As early as 1671, the coal industry used railed roads Durham to ease the conveyance of coal; the first was the Tanfield Wagonway. Wealthy landowners built tramroads or wagonways in the 17th and 18th centuries.
They used straight and parallel timber rails on which carts with simple flanged iron wheels were drawn by horses, enabling several wagons to move simultaneously.
The first public railway in the world was the Lake Lock Rail Road, a narrow-gauge railway built near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.
Although wooden-railed wagonways originated in Germany in the 16th century, the first use of steam locomotives was in Britain. Its earliest "railways" were straight and constructed from parallel timber rails on horse-drawn carts. These were succeeded in 1793 when Benjamin Outram built a mile-long tramway with L-shaped cast-iron rails. These rails became obsolete when William Jessop began to manufacture cast-iron rails without guiding ledges - the wheels of the carts had flanges instead. However, cast iron is brittle, and so the rails tended to break easily. Consequently, in 1820, John Birkenshaw introduced a method of rolling wrought iron rails.
The first passenger service was at Oystermouth in 1807, photograph from 1870.
The first passenger-carrying public railway was opened by the Swansea and Mumbles Railway at Oystermouth in 1807, using horse-drawn carriages on an existing tramline.
In 1802, Richard Trevithick designed and built the first (unnamed) steam locomotive on smooth rails.
Salamanca of 1812.
The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Salamanca, built-in 1812 by John Blenkinsop and Matthew Murray for the 4 ft (1,219 mm) gauge Middleton Railway.
Salamanca was a rack and pinion locomotive with cogwheels driven by two cylinders embedded into the top of the centre-flue boiler.
In 1813, William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth designed a locomotive (Puffing Billy) on the tramway between Stockton and Darlington.
Puffing Billy featured piston rods extending upwards to pivoting beams, connected in turn by rods to a crankshaft beneath the frames, which, in turn, drove the gears attached to the wheels. A year later, George Stephenson improved on that design with his first locomotive Blücher, the first locomotive to use single-flanged wheels.
That design persuaded the backers of the proposed Stockton and Darlington Railway to appoint Stephenson as an engineer in 1821. Traffic was intended to be horse-drawn; Stephenson carried out a new survey of the route to allow steam haulage. Robert Jenkinson's, Government amended the act to allow steam locomotives and passengers to be carried on the railway. As a result, the 25-mile (40 km) long route opened on 27 September 1825 and, with the aid of Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1, was the first locomotive-hauled public railway in the world.
Rail passengers in Great Britain from 1829 to 2019
In 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway set the pattern for modern railways. It was the world's first inter-city passenger railway and the first to have 'scheduled' services, terminal stations and services as we know them today. The railways carried freight and passengers with the world's first goods terminal station at the Park Lane railway goods station at Liverpool's south docks, accessed by the 1.26-mile Wapping Tunnel built by William MacKenzie. Then, in 1836, the line was extended to Lime Street station in Liverpool's city centre.
Many of the first public railways were built as local rail links operated by small private railway companies. With increasing rapidity, more and more lines were created, often with scant regard for their potential for traffic. The 1840s were by far the most significant decade for railway growth. In 1840, when the decade began, railway lines in Britain were few and scattered.
Within ten years, a complete network had been accomplished, and the vast majority of towns and villages had a rail connection and sometimes two or three. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, most pioneering independent railway companies amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained.
The period also saw a steady increase in government involvement, especially in safety matters. The 1840 "Act for Regulating Railways" empowered the Board of Trade to appoint railway inspectors. The Railway Inspectorate was established in 1840 to inquire into the causes of accidents and recommend ways to avoid them. In 1844, a bill had been put before Parliament suggesting the state purchase of the railways; this led to the introduction of minimum standards for the construction of carriages and the compulsory provision of 3rd class accommodation for passengers - so-called "Parliamentary trains".
The railway companies ceased to be profitable after the mid-1870s. Nationalisation of the railways was first proposed by William Ewart Gladstone as early as the 1840s. Calls for nationalisation continued throughout that century, with F. Keddell writing in 1890 that "The only valid ground for maintaining the monopoly would be the proof that the Railway Companies have made fair and proper use of their great powers, and have conduced to the prosperity of the people. But the exact contrary is the case." The Government brought the entire network under control during the First World War.
The Conservative members of the wartime coalition government resisted calls for the formal nationalisation of the railways in 1921.
1923 – 1947: The Big Four
On 1 January 1923, almost all the railway companies were grouped into the Big Four: the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway companies.
Several other lines, already operating as joint railways, remained separate from the Big Four; these included the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. The "Big Four" were joint-stock public companies, and they continued to run the railway system until 31 December 1947.
The LNER Class A4 streamlined loco-hauled express trains of the 1930s offered a high-speed alternative to road transport.
The competition from road transport during the 1920s and 1930s significantly reduced the revenue available to the railways. In addition, rail companies accused the Government of favouring road haulage through the construction of roads subsidised by the taxpayer while restricting the rail industry's ability to use flexible pricing.
The Government responded to several inconclusive reports; the Salter Report of 1933 finally recommended that road transport be taxed directly to fund the roads.
It also noted that many small lines would never be likely to compete with road haulage. Although these road pricing changes helped their survival, the railways entered a period of slow decline, owing to a lack of investment and changes in transport policy and lifestyles.
During the Second World War, the companies' managements joined together, effectively operating as one company. Assisting the country's 'war effort' put a severe strain on the railways' resources, and a substantial maintenance backlog developed. After 1945, the Government decided to bring the rail service into the public sector for practical and ideological reasons.
1948 – 1994: British Rail
From the start of 1948, the railways went into public ownership to form British Railways (latterly "British Rail") under the control of the British Transport Commission. Though there were few initial changes to the service, usage increased, and the network became profitable. British Rail regenerated track and stations by 1954. However, rail revenue fell, and, in 1955, the network again ceased to be beneficial. The mid-1950s saw the hasty introduction of diesel and electric rolling stock to replace steam in a modernisation plan costing millions of pounds. Still, the expected transfer from the road to rail did not occur, and losses began to mount.
This failure to make the railways more profitable through investment-led governments of all political persuasions to restrict rail investment to a drip feed and seek economies through cutbacks.
The desire for profitability led to a significant reduction in the network during the mid-1960s. As a result, Dr Richard Beeching was given the task by the Government of re-organising the railways ("the Beeching Axe").
This policy resulted in many branch lines and secondary routes being closed because they were uneconomic—the closure of stations serving rural communities removed much feeder traffic from mainline passenger services. In addition, the closure of many freight depots used by more prominent industries such as coal and iron led to much freight transferring to road haulage. The closures were highly unpopular with the general public at that time and remain so today.
Passenger levels decreased steadily from the late fifties to the late seventies. Passenger services then experienced a renaissance by introducing the high-speed InterCity 125 trains in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The 1980s saw severe cuts in government funding and above-inflation increases in fares, but the service became more cost-effective. Following the split of British Rail, InterCity became profitable. InterCity became one of Britain's top 150 companies operating city centre to city centre travel across the nation from Aberdeen and Inverness in the north to Poole and Penzance in the south.
Between 1994 and 1997, the Government privatised British Rail. As a result, the track and Railtrack took ownership of the infrastructure.
Railtrack passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators (originally, 25 franchises). The Conservative Government under John Major said that privatisation would see an improvement in passenger services. Instead, passenger levels have since increased enormously.
1995 onwards: Post-privatisation
Privatisation, the number of passengers has increased; by 2010, the railways were carrying more passengers than ever since the 1920s. And by 2014, passenger numbers had expanded to their highest level ever, more than doubling in the 20 years since privatisation. As a result, train fares cost more than under British Rail.
The railways have become significantly safer since privatisation and are now the safest in Europe. Accidents shortly after privatisation, namely
- Southall rail crash
- Ladbroke Grove rail crash
- Hatfield accident
The rail accidents damaged the reputation of Railtrack.
Following the Hatfield accident, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated an extremely costly nationwide track replacement programme. The consequential severe operational disruption to the national network and the company's spiralling costs set in motion the series of events that resulted in the ultimate collapse of the company and its replacement with Network Rail, a state-owned, not-for-dividend company.
In October 2002, Network Rail Limited was founded and is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the railway networks in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's length" public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways.
Since April 2016, wide-reaching rail strikes have severely disrupted the British railway network; engineering works also affect rail franchises. The industrial action began on Southern services as a dispute over the planned introduction of driver-only operation and has since expanded to cover many different issues affecting the rail industry;
As of 2021, government subsidies to the rail industry in absolute terms were roughly three times that of the late 1980s.
Accreditations; Wikipedia & Network Rail https://kids.kiddle.co/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain
http://mediawiki.feverous.co.uk/index.php/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain
https://www.dacbeachcroft.com/en/gb/news/2020/october/dac-beachcroft-appointed-to-advise-network-rail/
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