pedant alert - it is ROCS rigid overhead conductor system not knitting but I knew what you meant.
I knew what it was but not how to describe it. Must try and remember ROCS. (Or Starched knitting - sorry !.)
I hope whatever they do they don't skimp on the records. Part of the reason we are where we are with GWML electrification is that the drawings of previous work have been lost, hence the risk of hitting signaling cables etc. Hopefully with everything now digital under Computer Aided Design and now Building Information Modelling there won't be such a problem retaining, updating and retrieving them - assuming cloud storage doesn't go the way of the eight-inch floppy disc...
Where I worked I was asked to go through a library and throw as much as possible away. I got blamed for taking so long and I fear it still comes back to haunt me. It would have taken at least twice as long as I was allowed if I had the skip right next to me in the room. In fact it required about three skips not the one estimated !. Anyway I kept back a lot and showed it to almost retired staff and they were horrified !. So it does not just happen on the railways. It happens when your manager (and above) wants results now and you are causing trouble by thinking of the future.
Electronic records should be safer. But that is until each custodian assumes the other custodians will keep their copies anyway.
As an IT professional I can tell you that on more than one occasion I deduced that the backups were one of :-
a) faulty / inadequate.
b) kept in the same location as the originals.
c) not clearly documented.
As you say 8 inch floppy discs are not much use without a reader. The rate technology progresses these days the CD & DVD are close behind. I have just saved two USB floppy disc drives and by the time I need them USB slots will no longer be on a computer knowing my luck. Paper and print has been a standard medium for rather longer and can be read without a machine. Oh and I just thought of Microfiche - remember that - burns easily aiui.