Everything about British Rail totally explained
» This article is about the defunct entity "British Railways", which later traded as "British Rail". The History of rail transport in Great Britain is covered in its own article.
British Railways (BR), which later traded as
British Rail, ran most of the
British railway system from the
nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British
railway companies in 1948 until
privatisation in stages from 1994 to 1997.
This period of nationalisation saw massive changes in the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised.
History
The
rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the
Railways Act 1921 there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the
Great Western Railway (GWR), the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the
Southern Railway (SR). The
Transport Act 1947 made provision for the
nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by
Clement Attlee's
Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the
business name of the
Railway Executive of the
British Transport Commission (BTC) on
1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four. Though there were few initial changes to the service, usage increased and the network became profitable. Regeneration of track and stations was completed by 1954. In the same year, changes to the British Transport Commission, including the privatisation of road haulage, ended the coordination of transport in the UK. Rail revenue fell and in 1955 the network again ceased to be profitable. The mid-1950s saw the rapid introduction of diesel and electric rolling stock, but the expected transfer back from road to rail didn't occur and losses began to mount.
The desire for profitability led to a major reduction in the network during the mid-1960s. 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 deemed uneconomic. The closure of stations serving rural communities removed much feeder traffic from main line passenger services. The closure of many freight depots that had been used by larger industries such as
coal and
iron led to much freight transferring to road haulage. The closures were extremely unpopular with the general public at that time, and remain so today.
Passenger levels decreased steadily from the late fifties to late seventies. Passenger services then experienced a renaissance with the introduction of 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, and the service became more cost-effective. Between 1994 and 1997,
British Rail was privatised. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to
Railtrack; passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators (originally there were 25 franchises); and the freight services sold outright (six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer). The Conservative government under
John Major claimed that privatisation would see an improvement in passenger services. Passenger levels have since increased to above the level they'd been at in the late 1950s.
Network
The BR network, with the trunk routes of the
West Coast Main Line,
East Coast Main Line,
Great Western Main Line and
Midland Main Line, remains mostly unchanged since privatisation, with several branch line re-openings particularly in
Scotland and
Wales, where the control of the railway network is devolved from central government.
Successor companies
Following privatisation, British Rail's operations were divided up between a company that ran the infrastructure of the railway system,
Railtrack, and various franchise-based companies that took over the running of rail services on a regional basis for a set number of years. The companies that took over passenger rail services include:
Great Western Trains from 1998 First Great Western
Wessex Trains
Arriva Trains Northern (originally Northern Spirit superseded in 2004 by First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail)
Arriva Trains Merseyside
Arriva Trains Wales
South West Trains
Central Trains / Central Citylink (Network West Midlands), divided between London Midland, Cross Country and East Midlands Trains in 2007Further Information
Get more info on 'British Rail'.
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