Eventful Day For British Railways

Chronicle (Levin), 10 January 1948, Page 4

Eventful Day For British Railways

the adyent qf Jqnuary 1 the rail vyays in Britain reached one pf the "most eventful dates in their long history of service to the nation. They were transf erred . in their entirety from private to piihlic pwnership. The role of the ralJwAYS ip Bhiain § effort t.Q aft*!!?1 ecpnpmic stability is qf par amount importance — equal to fhe role they were caljed qppn to nlav durinsr the war years.

' Few who saw Britain's .early loc.omotiyes trundling along pn crude tracks in the early nineteenth century could have anticipated , that the day would come when the. transport syst,ems which they pioneered would be nationalised into one' complete unit. But with the New Year State control pf- the entire British transpqrt system became'an accQinplished fgptA newly-farmefi Rritiigh Transport Cpmmission has been set up which will be resppnsiblp fpr tlie entire British" transport system through the agency of executiyes in pharge of London transport, rpad transport, docks, inland -^feprways and hotels. SQmP sixty railway qndertakings, includjng th.e foqr main-line railway pqmpanies, yrgre inyqlvpd. The imipensity qf their qssets pan he judged by the follewing figqres: Gver 52,000- niiles pf. trapk, l,230,QpO wagons, 45,000 passen'ger coaches, 20,00,0 lqcomptiyes, 25,Q00 hprse.drawp vehipies, 70 hpteis §n4 5O;0OO {lpiises, reppe.septing the mafn p.r.qper jiips bf * the railway comr panies. ' Iq ad'^itiqn, thp transfer tp PPb-' Lic QWiieisbip includes 1640 JRBpS p! panals *WWW§Fsi 10° wbijlsJifps tqlallipg " 150," 000 tp^§ gFpss, ap4 §pcks, haFboqrs §fyj Wharv.es situated at 76 point;s "in the country. The total length of

quays is 96 miles and the State -becpmes the wprld's largest owner of dppks, liarbours and wfiarves. The property embraced some ,of the largest graving "docks in the world th'ose at Southampton, the most important passenger port in- Great Britain, used by the world's leading shipping companies. The strain imposed ppon the railwg,ys during the war ybars was tremen'dous. Large numbers of extra trains were run tp carry trpops. eyacpees'and.the materiais of wai' Tbroughout the war .eypry mile qf raflway track carried qn an average one third more freight transport than it did in peace-time. War materiais were pro.duped in railway "wprksliops. Well over 100,000 railway employees served with the afmed forces. NeaiTy 400 railway servants were killed on duty "as a result of ■ enemy action, while appToximately 2500 were injiired. All these things combined to restfict development during the wai' years and, to some extent indeed. deterioration was inevitable. Today, however, progress in developmen' arid rehabilitation is well advanced. The individual railway companies haye aheady |?ut ip Ifapd many schemes for improveinent and have fQFpiulated prpgrapimes of essenfcial Vbrks. These pall fqr th,e recpnsfrqption or iipprpyemept pf sixty of the main-line" sta|ions and

the rehabilitation of a very much larger number bf smaller stations. Special attention has been ^rp-wn .the need for bfighter waiting "ooms and improved facilities genr irally for passengers. Restaurants rrid buffets require modernisatiori md the introduction of up-to-date itandards of decoration and equipr ment, while extensiye alterations ire needed at ihany stations with the provision of modern cafeteria servipes and snack bars. In addition many of the railway hotels are scheduled for improvement and plaps fpr the erection of several new hotels have been proposedfTechnical deyeloprnent qf - the raiiways' is of far-reachmg importance. Aiready considerable" "pi'pgress has been made in the field /*£ elpctrificatiQni There have been periments with radio telephonyand. it is believed that the time may come when rail travellers will be able to make an ordinary telephone call from the train to any part qf fche Britich Isles — even, perhaps, tp pasengers on other trains/ Experimental work has been carried out on methods of propulsion,;. Gas turbine engines are being constnicted while the use of "diesel electrie loeomotive*s is beihg "extepded. Tp enablp heavy loads th Be haqled -at considerqbly inpreased spepds, inpre ppwerfui engines qre being built.