dr beeching railway cuts

Meanwhile communities are being invited to pitch other rail restoration proposals. Richard Beeching's brief as chairman of the British Transport Commission was simple: "Make the railways pay". Dr Beeching spent two years preparing his detailed report on rail cuts, it was based on a seven-day study of British railway traffic. News quiz: What was Erling Haaland blamed for this week? Beeching's secondment from ICI ended early in June 1965 after Harold Wilson's attempt to get him to produce a transport plan failed. The Beeching Report was an infamously wrong-headed document which led to the closure of a quarter of the rail network and half of Britain's stations. He says: "I think it will increase the amount of commuter travel to Edinburgh. After the war, the railways faced increasing competition from a growing road transport network, which had increased to 8 million tons of freight annually by 1921. Beeching. Critics have accused Beeching of ignoring the social consequences of his plans, with communities cut off. Jump to Latest Follow 1 - 19 of 19 Posts . As is customary, he resigned as a director of the company in 1951 on becoming a junior minister, but he only disposed of his shares in the company in 1960 after the company won a contract to build the Hammersmith Flyover, when questions were asked both in the media and also in the Commons on 28 January 1960;[34] he made a statement to the House later that day confirming that the sale of shares was in hand and would be completed "very soon", noting that as part of the agreement he could be required to buy the shares from the purchaser at the original price after he ceased to hold office, if so desired by the purchaser. [note 5] His analysis showed that the least-used 1,762 stations had annual passenger receipts of less than 2,500 each (61,000 as of 2022[13]), that over half of the 4,300 stations open to passengers in 1960 had receipts of less than 10,000,[note 6] that the least-used 50% of stations contributed only 2% of passenger revenue,[note 7] and that one third of route miles carried just 1% of passengers. BBC News 2013 - Did Dr Beeching get it wrong with his railway cuts 50 years ago? It is a point of contention whether he left by mutual arrangement with the government or was sacked. Services from Edinburgh to Carlisle, via the Scottish border towns of Galashiels and Hawick, stopped when the Waverley line closed, In 1963, at the time of the Beeching report, railways criss-crossed Britain, and even remote areas had stations, Ironically a bypass for cars has replaced the railway at Melrose station in the Scottish borders, Work is under way on a new 300m railway between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, Jeremy Bowen on reporting from Ukraine's frontline. [38] There was no evidence of any wrongdoing on anyone's part in this or any of the other contracts awarded to the company during his term of office,[39] it did however lead to a sense of unease, not least within the railway sector. Throughout the country, campaigners want passenger services restored to railway lines like this one, axed in the 1960s by then British Railways chief Dr Richard Beeching. He says that closing the Dumfries to Stranraer and the Ayr to Stranraer line meant that the sleeper service from Belfast to London, via the port of Stranraer, would no longer run. The plan was outlined in two reports: The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965), written by Richard Beeching and published by the British Railways Board . Why did Beeching cut the railways? Upon returning to ICI, Beeching was appointed liaison director for the agricultural division and organisation and services director. [16], The report starts by quoting the brief provided by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, from 1960: "First, the industry must be of a size and pattern suited to modern conditions and prospects. It celebrates 12 of the most beautiful and historic journeys in Britain, some of which were saved from the Beeching cuts. Beeching's plan was based on what seemed like logical analysis at the time. Mr Spaven says: "We have to recognise the achievement of getting the railway back to Galashiels and Tweedbank. "Towns of the size of Galashiels - which has a population of 13,000 - and Hawick which had a population of 16,000 - ended up further from the rail network than any other towns of their size in Britain. Fifty years ago, the Beeching Report was published, spelling the end for thousands of stations and hundreds of branch lines. (The legal name of the British Railways Board did not change.) For Dr Beeching, commercial viability was central to railway policy in times of unsustainable and mounting losses. Some closed stations have reopened, and passenger services have been restored on a few lines where they had been removed. He adds: "I think Scotland suffered particularly in the Beeching era from the loss of some important quite long-distance routes which could have fulfilled a more strategic role than perhaps they did at the time. During the election campaign Labour had promised to halt rail closures if elected, but it quickly backtracked, and later oversaw some of the most controversial closures. The Times, "Lord Beeching: 'I Was Not Sacked. SAVAGE cuts to railway lines that were carried out in the 1960s will be undone - with the first track reopening to be announced later this year, the Transport Secretary said. In 1963, Dr Richard Beeching took an axe to the British rail system - and made getting around Wales by public transport significantly more difficult. The Times, "Mr. Cousins says 'We Sacked Beeching'", 17 November 1965, p. 12. [23], Holiday and coastal resorts were severely affected by the closures. 2022 BBC. [45], The Transport Act 1962 dissolved the British Transport Commission (BTC), which had overseen the railways, canals and road freight transport and established the British Railways Board, which took over on 1 January 1963, with Dr Beeching as its first chairman. [note 4], Beeching first studied traffic flows on all lines to identify "the good, the bad, and the indifferent". But now, in one corner of Britain, a new line is being laid that will restore a link cut by Beeching's axe. [7] Replacement bus services were often run between the (now disused) station sites (some of which were some distance from the population centres they served), thus losing any potential advantage over the closed rail service. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos British Rail was losing 140million a year when Dr Beeching took over as a chairman of the British Transport Commission. [41] Beeching, with a PhD in Physics, had been appointed to the main board of ICI at the age of 43. These closures included the Charnwood Forest Railway, closed to passengers in 1931, and the Harborne Line in Birmingham, closed to passengers in 1934. Beeching was given a leave of absence for five years by ICI in order to carry out this task.[7]. It was reported that he had transferred his shares into an Overseas Trust. The aim was to cut the mounting debts of the nationalised British Rail by removing duplicated routes and closing the least-used branch lines of the railway. 11th December 2012. In Craven, routes to be withdrawn were Skipton to Ilkley, Leeds and Bradford; and also between Skipton, Keighley, Leeds and Bradford. Here's a map showing the damage 21 years later. 10 people found this helpful. [2] Some lines had never been profitable and were not subject to loss of traffic in that period. This policy would result in traffic through Britain being routed through nine selected lines. The reopening of up to 50 disused railway lines or stations will be considered as part of a reversal of the infamous Beeching cuts, it was announced yesterday. Possible changes to light railway-type operations were attacked by Beeching, who wrote: "The third suggestion, that rail buses should be substituted for trains, ignores the high cost of providing the route itself, and also ignores the fact that rail buses are more expensive vehicles than road buses." [8] The cut-backs would include the scrapping of a third of a million goods wagons, much as Stedeford had foreseen and fought against. One is the Ashington-Blyth-Tyne line in Northumberland which will reopen thanks to a 500m funding boost. [15] Beeching denied this, pointing out that he had returned early to ICI as he would not have had enough time to undertake an in-depth transport study before the formal end of his secondment from ICI.[16]. But he added: "The real instigators of rail closures were civil servants trying to work out how you adapt a country that was built around the horse and cart and steam train, to accommodate the cars people wanted to drive and the lorries business wanted to use.". In the first of his reports to government, Dr Beeching recommended the closure of 263 stations and the withdrawal of 5,000 miles of passenger services. : Lessons from British Transport Policy 194599 Dudley and Richardson, "Britain's most hated civil servant" (BBC website), "16 February 1965: Beeching plans for 'bloated' railways", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Beeching&oldid=1114942262, There is a pub called 'Lord Beechings' at the end of the, The old station approach in the village of, This page was last edited on 9 October 2022, at 02:24. [33], Marples had a background with a successful road construction company. The Times, "Mr. Cousins says 'We Sacked Beeching'", 17 November 1965, p. 12. ", Borders railway campaigner Bill Jamieson says: "Hawick became very isolated. Finally there was the service from Hull to York via Beverley (using part of the Yorkshire Coast Line, which was not closed, and the York to Beverley Line, which was). The Act put in place measures that simplified the process of closing railways by removing the need for the pros and cons of each case to be heard in detail. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. [20] The government argued that many services could be provided more effectively by buses. ", Imran Khan survives deadly Pakistan rally shooting, Jeremy Bowen on reporting from Ukraine's frontline. Gone within two years would be key lines . On 15 March 1961 Ernest Marples announced in the House of Commons that Beeching would be the first Chairman of the British Railways Board in due course, and that in the meantime he would be a part-time member of the British Transport Commission with immediate effect, becoming the chairman of the Commission from 1 June 1961. RailwayBlogger. Some have accused him of being part of or even the scapegoat for a conspiracy against the railways involving politicians, civil servants and the road lobby. The Fleetwood line in Lancashire will also reopen. He later rose to become Deputy Chairman from 1966 to 1968. Yorkshire and Humberside Reinstatement of the Beverley to York Rail Line Dozens of branch lines. [citation needed] In this respect, Beeching can be thus seen to have taken a courageous approach to implementing an unpopular policy which politicians had deferred for many decades. Passenger services would be withdrawn from around 5,000 route miles accounting for an annual train mileage of 68 million and yielding, according to Beeching, a net saving of 18m per year. His first post was with the Shell Design Section where he had a rank equivalent to that of army captain. He returned after two years to become chairman of ICI Metals Division on the recommendation of Sir Ewart Smith. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. [8] The cut-backs would include the scrapping of a third of a million goods wagons, much as Stedeford had foreseen and fought against. [19] In 1968 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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dr beeching railway cuts

dr beeching railway cuts