The British Railway Network in the Beeching Era

Abstract

T nHE railway network of Britain, created under conditions of near transport monopoly to satisfy the economic demands of the Victorian period, now faces not only the competition of newer and more flexible forms of transport but also changed patterns of economic activity. Such a situation can be met in part by technical adaptation of the existing network, by re-equipment and electrification, but it has led inevitably to the increasing redundancy of large parts of the railway system. The problem is not, of course, unique to Britain, but a direct comparison with conditions in the United States is precluded by differences not only of history, geography, and technical form but also of the fundamental structure of organization and regulation.