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British Rail

British Rail (BR), until 1965 British Railways, was founded in 1948 after the government nationalised the four private railway companies ('Big Four'); LNER: London and North Eastern Railway, LMS: London, Midland and Scottish Railway, GWR: Great Western Railway and SR: Southern Railway.  In 1948, these four companies were taken over by the state. This takeover was part of the nationalisation policy of the social democratic Labour. In 19508es the railways were very outdated and the first modernisation plan was implemented. For example, there were hardly any electric trains running, all traffic was based on steam.  The modernisation cost the state £1.25 million, However, the modernisation plan failed and the train increasingly faced competition from car traffic, both for passenger and freight transport. In 1963 was presented a controversial reorganisation plan. A far-reaching rationalisation and cost-cutting policy was introduced. The plan led to the abolition of 26,000 kilometres of track and 2,000 stations, the modernisation of 5,000 kilometres of lines and the abolition of steam trains. The plan also introduced the term IC (InterCity).  In 1996 British Rail was privatised by the conservative government. There was much criticism of privatisation: punctuality and service levels declined, ticket prices rose, the original private network manager Railtrack neglected important and necessary improvement and security works for years. Some rail operators went bankrupt, forcing the government to take over the train service again. All this resulted in the government having to spend more taxpayers' money on the railways than before privatisation. After a serious train accident in Hatfield in 2000, in which four people died as a result of poorly maintained tracks, Railtrack had to impose more than 1,200 speed restrictions across the country. This led to enormous chaos on the rail network for more than a year. As a result Railtrack in 2001 was taken over by the state under the name Network Rail.  However, as  a result of privatisation: passenger numbers increased by more than 50%, private rail companies invested heavily in new rolling stock, train frequencies were increased, new stations were built, previously closed lines and stations were reopened and rail traffic became much more dynamic.

November 25nd 2024

 

 
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