User:ShakespeareFan00/Rail Transport in Britan/The Beeching Axe

By the early 1960's Britan's railways were less profitable, growing private car use, and a burgeoning coach market had expanded, and was rapidly drawing away passenger traffic. The 1955 Modernisation plan had promised much. Yet despite it's claims of profitablity for the rail network by 1962,in 1961 losses of over £300,000 a day had clearly become unsustainable.

The Government, at the time seeking fresh talent to solve the railway problems, had appointed Dr Richard Beeching from industry to head up the British Transport Commission in 1961.

During 1961 and 1962 Beeching undertook a no-nonsense review of the railway network, and published a report in 1963, which was intended to set the future direction for the British Railways board that he was now in charge of.

Beeching's cold analysis showed that at least 1,500 stations made less than 2500 pounds (at 1963 prices), and that just under half of all passenger stations contributed less than 2% of all revenue. It was also noted that a third of the then route mileage carried just 1% of the passangers!

The report recommended the closure of at least a third of the route mileage, with many other lines retained only for freight, which should be re-organised on the basis of bulk flows (such as coal and minerals.), and that containerisation should replace wagon-loaded freight whose methods had not fundamentally changed in over 50 years. The report was highly controversial, the National Union of Railwayman (a prominent trade union) producing a scathing 'Retort'.

Nontheless, the report was accepted by the Government, and a programme of closures began in earnest. In many places these closures were met with vocal opposition, and in some cases the promised replacements such as buses were not considered an adequate replacement.

By 1968, the railways had still not returned to profitability, and the Government reluctantly had to accept that some form of central support for the remaining network was inevitable. However this realisation came to late for some important routes, including the Great Central mainline, and the Waverly route linking Carlisle and Edinburgh, for them an many other lines the Beeching "Axe" had already fallen.