Many
factors led to the decline of the British rail network.
The work was heavy and dangerous, pay rates declined and finally a conservative
government made a disastrous decision, which threw away almost half of its
19th century civil engineering infrastructure.
Safety - a crucial issue
Working on the railway was a dangerous occupation, at least as dangerous
as mining or agricultural work.
A monthly summary of accidents on the London and North Eastern Railway during
March 1920 show the dangers of operating a main line rail system.
| Chief
Mechanical Engineer's Department |
Killed
|
Injured
|
| Accidents due
to want of care |
0
|
1
|
| Slipping off engines,
ladders, etc. |
0
|
21
|
| Articles falling
whilst being handled |
0
|
26
|
| Struck by chippings,
etc., from other men's work |
0
|
6
|
| Pinched by materials,
etc., being handled |
0
|
9
|
| Scalded and burnt
by coming in contact with hot plates, etc. |
0
|
8
|
| Through hand brakes
flying off |
0
|
3
|
| By breakage of
tools, etc., in use |
0
|
12
|
| Strains and other
injuries while lifting or pulling materials, etc. |
0
|
20
|
| Miscellaneous
accidents |
0
|
17
|
| Total |
0
|
123
|
| General
Superintendent's Department |
Killed
|
Injured
|
| While coupling,
uncoupling, braking vehicles |
1
|
4
|
| While attending
to points |
0
|
1
|
| While getting
on or off vehicles |
0
|
5
|
| Injured by horses,
i.e., bites, kicks. etc. |
0
|
1
|
| Being run over |
1
|
1
|
| Falling between
train and platform |
0
|
2
|
| Failing while
walking, riding, or on steps |
0
|
11
|
| While opening
or closing doors of vehicles or buildings |
0
|
8
|
| Falling when getting
on or oft platforms |
0
|
2
|
| Falling off ladders,
etc |
0
|
2
|
| While moving goods
or luggage |
0
|
18
|
| While loading,
unloading, or sheeting wagons |
0
|
35
|
| Miscellaneous
accidents |
1
|
17
|
| Total |
3
|
107
|
| Chief
Engineer's Department. |
Killed
|
Injured
|
| Knocked down by
moving rolling stock |
2
|
5
|
| Loading, unloading
and stacking timber |
0
|
1
|
| Loading, unloading
and stacking rails |
0
|
6
|
| In connection
with the use of trolleys |
0
|
1
|
| Struck by chips
of metal and stone |
0
|
2
|
| Falling over point
rods, signal wires, etc |
0
|
7
|
| Falling from roofs,
ladders and scaffolds |
0
|
9
|
| Stumbling or slipping
while walking on line |
0
|
3
|
| Miscellaneous,
cuts, bruises, sprains, strains, etc |
2
|
13
|
| Total |
4
|
47
|
| Other
Departments |
Killed
|
Injured
|
| While loading,
unloading and otherwise handling traffic |
0
|
1
|
| Injured by horses,
i.e., bites, kicks, etc |
0
|
4
|
| While repairing
sheets, i.e., cut by knife, pierced by needle |
0
|
1
|
| While sheeting
and unsheeting wagons |
0
|
1
|
| Miscellaneous
accidents |
0
|
4
|
| Total |
0
|
11
|
| General
Summary |
Killed
|
Injured.
|
| Locomotive and
Carriage Department |
0
|
123
|
| Operating Department |
3
|
107
|
| Engineering Department |
4
|
47
|
| Other Departments |
0
|
11
|
| Total |
7
|
288
|
Courtesy of the Ken Hoole Study Centre at the North Road
Railway Museum
A total of seven dead and 288 injured.
Pay
Against the risks pay was poor and, by 1958, pay rates for railway workers
lagged behind those for the coal industry.
Indeed for the 'labouring' grades pay was no higher than for agricultural
workers who had the benefit of 'tied housing'.
|
Rates of pay 1958
|
s
|
d |
| London
North Eastern Railway |
Engine Cleaner
|
163 0 |
| Fireman and Assistant
Motorman |
198 0 |
| Driver and Motorman |
222 6 |
| Mineworkers |
Coal Face workers |
327 9
|
| Underground |
297 6 |
| Surface |
228 10 |
| Agricultural
workers |
Over 20 |
156
0 |
Courtesy of the Ken Hoole Study Centre at the North Road
Railway Museum
Oh! Dr Beeching
The Beeching report (1963) marked the beginning of the end.
The report claimed that large parts of British Railways were uneconomic
and under used.
Dr Richard Beeching, chairman of the British Transport Commission, drew
a conclusion that only half of the rail network's routes carried enough
traffic to cover their operating costs.
At the time British Rail was running at a loss of £140m a year.
Beeching made it his job to "make the railways pay"!
In his investigation of the rail network, he found that 50% of the 7,000
stations on the British Rail network carried 98% of the traffic.
A quarter of the rail traffic originated at just 34 stations, while a
third of the track was used by just 1% of traffic.
The approach to the problem of creating a well balanced inland transport
system was one sided.
It concentrated on railways which was a complete unit under one authority.
British Rail operated track, vehicle and load; its accounts were exact,
up to date, accessible and visible to all, easy to analyse.
Thus the Government's attention could be centred on the British Rail deficit.
Roads ignored
Their approach ignored the identical but more complicated and more serious
problem of overall economic road transport deficits.
Roads were provided, owned, maintained, administered
and paid for by 1,288 highway authorities.
They were used by millions of vehicles, individuals, groups and companies.
Accounts were legion in numbers, complicated and not easily analysed.
Widespread research in other European countries pointed to the likelihood
that overall road transport deficit is ultimately born by taxpayer and
ratepayer.
Is was far in excess of the railway deficit. At least £300m and
possibly as high as £600m.
If a similar exercise were carried out on the roads and
road transport sector, it is probable that the bottom would have fallen
out of Dr. Beeching's report.
One sided report
The report was unbalanced and one sided. It concentrated on removing unprofitable
transport services.
Many rail services which could be made profitable were deliberately subjected
to neglect and cash starvation.
Perhaps the most controversial part of the report was an appendix, listing
over 2,000 stations and 250 train services which could be withdrawn immediately
on economic grounds.
Some were tiny, rural stations; others were in major cities like Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Liverpool.
The closures drastically reduced local lines in the Scottish Highlands,
Wales and the West Country.
1963 closures
Dr Beeching made the first closures in the autumn of 1963. He proposed
70,000 job losses and fare increases in London of at least 10%.
The Beeching Report was warmly welcomed by the Conservative
government.
Transport Minister Ernest Marples said some roads might have to be strengthened,
widened or modified to take extra traffic imposed by line closures.
The chairman of the National Council on Inland Transport,
Lord Stonham, condemned the Beeching report as "destructive".
"Far from gearing the railways to the needs of the
1960s," he said, "it will in some areas reduce public transport
to a lower level than in the horse age."
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