Have there been suggestions to completely abolish railways?

[Dyncymraeg]

This is something I touched on a thread about the Beeching cuts. Has there been a widespread belief during any period in history that the railways were an obsolete relic as a means of transport and that motor vehicles should carry all traffic. Dr Beeching heavily cut the railway network. Were there serious suggestions we should completely abolish the railways.

 

[Tester]

This is something I touched on a thread about the Beeching cuts. Has there been a widespread belief during any period in history that the railways were an obsolete relic as a means of transport and that motor vehicles should carry all traffic. Dr Beeching heavily cut the railway network. Were there serious suggestions we should completely abolish the railways.

Most certainly.

There was an organisation called the Railway Conversion League with that specific aim. It was active from 1958 to 1994.

Search engines will lead you to a trove of information.

 

[Taunton]

There are various countries, particularly but not only third world ones, which have let go of railways completely.

There are also quite a number of US states, and major cities, with no passenger rail service at all.

 

[D Williams]

ASLEF and the RMT have been doing their best to achieve this aspiration aided by a succession of meddling and clueless governments.

 

[duffield]

Suggestions? Yes. E.g. every few years someone writes an article in the Telegraph or similar suggesting the entire rail network be converted to roads (nowadays with "autonomous vehicles" thrown in).

But the closest *serious* suggestion since Beeching was the Serpell report's option A which involved closing 84% of the railway by route miles.

 

[Rescars]

It would be just like Christmas every day!

 

[Western 52]

I think the government in the 1980s wanted to convert the lines out of Marylebone into bus ways. If they'd have achieved that, we'd have no doubt seen many more conversions.

 

[778]

I think the government in the 1980s wanted to convert the lines out of Marylebone into bus ways. If they'd have achieved that, we'd have no doubt seen many more conversions.

I am not sure that we would have seen more conversions after that because Paddington and Baker Street could not have coped with the demand, and it would have been seen as a huge mistake. It may even have been converted back into a railway again.

I think someone who wanted to close all railways was Paul Withrington (I think he was part of the Railway Conversion League?), an engineer who wanted to convert railway lines into busways. He hated railways with a passion and he saw it as his mission in life to abolish railways completely.

 

[Roilshead]

The Ulster Transport Authority was very much anti-railway, having been born out of the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board, and would dearly have liked to close its railway system, but the Benson Report it commissioned in the early 1960s recommended retention of what essentailly became Northern Ireland Railways.

 

[MadMac]

The Ulster Transport Authority was very much anti-railway, having been born out of the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board, and would dearly have liked to close its railway system, but the Benson Report it commissioned in the early 1960s recommended retention of what essentially became Northern Ireland Railways.

When one looks at the predominant "demographics" along the closed lines, it could be argued that the UTA behaved more like the UDA.....

I am not sure that we would have seen more conversions after that because Paddington and Baker Street could not have coped with the demand, and it would have been seen as a huge mistake. It may even have been converted back into a railway again.

I think someone who wanted to close all railways was Paul Withrington (I think he was part of the Railway Conversion League?), an engineer who wanted to convert railway lines into busways. He hated railways with a passion and he saw it as his mission in life to abolish railways completely.

Another name that comes to mind is Major Angus Dalgleish (not to be confused with the prominent oncologist). Various papers published by the League can be read at https://www.transport-watch.co.uk/topic-7-archive-railway-conversion-league-1958-1994