OVER the 125 years from 1897, there have been a number of legislative interventions that have shaped the railway we see today. The most important acts of parliament have been the 1921 Railways Act, which saw the grouping of more than 100 independent companies into what became known as the ‘Big Four’; the 1947 Transport Act, which nationalised the railways under the control of the British Transport Commission; and the 1993 Railways Act that privatised the network.
There were also other significant measures that changed Government policy, including the 1896 Light Railways Act (implemented from 1897) and the London Passenger Transport Act in 1933. Legislation in 1962 and 1968 also altered policies in the British Railways period between Nationalisation and Privatisation, as well as wartime powers that brought Government control in the First and Second World Wars.
The aim of each of these interventions was to improve the delivery of railway services by measures that included greater co-ordination, higher levels of investment, improved connectivity, better working conditions, the improvement of financial results, and actions to stem market decline.
Rail monopoly
Prior to the First World War, little competition existed for either passenger travel or goods conveyance, and so Parliament concerned itself with preventing any abuse of monopoly power and regulating safety standards. The Railway Clearing House, which was set up by the private companies, also had an important role in allocating revenue and defining standards for what we now call inter-operability.
From the beginning of railway development in the first half of the 19th century, levels of traffic depended on a derived demand, and railway companies had to change earlier social attitudes where most people had not travelled beyond their own parish and goods were manufactured for local consumption.
“Longer distance travel was restricted by relatively low speed, but to mitigate this there was a halcyon period when sleeping and restaurant car services were provided on most major routes”
Reasons had to be found to promote travel, with one of the most striking examples being the seaside holiday. By 1897, migration to resorts such as Blackpool for a ‘wakes week’ holiday – when individual towns closed factories for an annual period of maintenance – meant families travelled en masse by train for an annual break.
Railway companies had to muster every available asset to cater for this summer peak, providing extensive infrastructure to accommodate the locomotives and coaching stock. This market continued until the advent first of the private car, allowing much greater travel independence, and then more dramatically the growth of package holidays that allowed large numbers of tourists to escape the British climate in search of almost guaranteed sunshine.
The market decline meant that the cost of rolling stock held in reserve to cater for periods of exceptional demand could no longer be justified, and it is difficult to picture today the spectacle of the procession of trains that could be seen heading for destinations such as Blackpool, Llandudno, and the West Country.
Another derived demand was the commute. The centralisation of employment in factories and offices that existed at the end of the 19th century meant that walking to work was no longer practical, and railway networks in urban areas expanded to cater for commuters. This was undertaken on a vast scale, with the Great Eastern Railway providing the most extensive steam-worked timetable in the world at London Liverpool Street.