Rail transport in Great Britain

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The UK rail network is the oldest in the world. It comprises 16,536 km of standard gauge lines (1435 mm). Of this, 4,928 km are electrified and 12,591 km have double or multiple tracks. After the opening of the first line with passenger traffic in 1825, hundreds of railway companies were created (see list ), which were consolidated into four companies in 1922 after numerous mergers. In 1948 the railways were nationalized, then the route network was reduced to less than half. Between 1994 and 1997, British Rail was gradually privatized .

Rail Map GB (RC) .png

The railway infrastructure (especially rails, stations, workshops and signals) is owned by the not-for-profit company Network Rail . Passenger traffic is carried out by numerous railway companies . Most of them franchise certain services specified by the government and receive financial support in return. Freight transport is fully commercialized and the various operators do not receive any government subsidies.

Historical overview

The UK rail network grew out of a multitude of local lines built by hundreds of small private rail companies. The world's first railway line with passenger traffic was the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825 , the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , opened in 1830, was the first railway line to connect two major cities.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, these companies merged with each other or were bought out by competitors until only a few large companies remained. During the First World War , the state took control of the railway system, but initially refused to nationalize the companies . Instead, almost all of the companies still in existence were merged into four large companies on January 1, 1923. These Big Four were the Great Western Railway , the London and North Eastern Railway , the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and the Southern Railway . There were some railway lines that were operated jointly by two companies.

During the Second World War , the four companies merged their administration to save costs, so that there was effectively only a single railway company. In 1945 the government decided to nationalize the Big Four for practical and ideological reasons . On January 1, 1948, British Railways was founded (later British Rail ). The slow but steady decline of the British railways began in the mid-1950s as traffic shifted increasingly to the road.

The British railway system was fundamentally reorganized under the direction of Richard Beeching . The so-called Beeching ax fell victim to around half of all routes in the 1960s and early 1970s, mainly low-traffic branch routes. Beeching's more extensive plans to limit rail traffic to a few main routes were not implemented. At the beginning of the 1990s, British Rail was fundamentally reorganized; The geographically defined operating regions were replaced by departments organized by type of operation.

In 1994 and 1995, British Rail was divided into infrastructure, maintenance, rolling stock, passenger and freight companies; these were privatized in 1996 and 1997 . Railtrack was responsible for the entire railway system , while passenger traffic was divided into regional franchises and freight traffic was divested entirely. The privatization proved to be a partial success, as the number of passengers rose sharply as a result and are now above the level of the late 1950s. On the other hand, prices rose sharply and are now above the level of other European countries such as Germany, Spain or France. The trend towards increasing passenger numbers also corresponds to a global trend that can also be observed in other countries with still state railways.

After a series of serious accidents, the British railways suffered a significant loss of image. A particularly serious accident on October 17, 2000 at Hatfield (Hertfordshire) resulted in more than 1200 speed limits being set up on the entire route network. Railtrack, which only sparsely renovated the network in order to reduce costs, was forced to carry out an expensive track renewal program, which ultimately led to the bankruptcy of the company. In October 2002, Railtrack was replaced by the not-for-profit company Network Rail .

stretch

Five main lines running radially from London form the framework of the British rail network. These are the West Coast Main Line , the East Coast Main Line , the Midland Main Line , the Great Western Main Line and the Great Eastern Main Line . The most important cross-connection is the cross-country route from York to Bristol . These routes are supplemented by numerous regional lines and dense suburban networks in the metropolitan areas.

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (High Speed 1) is currently the only high-speed line and was after almost 100 years, the first new line at all. It connects London with the Eurotunnel , is operationally separate from the rest of the rail network, with the exception of a few crossing points, and is built to the same specifications as the TGV network in France .

business

passenger traffic

Train travelers in Great Britain from 1829 to 2019, divided into the early days of the individual companies, the amalgamation of these to form the Big Four , the time of the state-owned British Rail and that of today's privatization.

Passenger transport is structured on the basis of regional franchises which are awarded by the Ministry of Transport to private railway companies. There are deviations at Merseyrail , where the franchise is awarded by Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive , and at ScotRail , where the Department of Transport acts according to the guidelines of the Scottish Government. Originally there were 25 franchises, but the number of rail operating companies is smaller as some companies - including First Group , National Express Group, and Stagecoach Group - own multiple franchises. In addition, some franchises have been combined. Individual companies operate outside of the franchising system without government support, such as B. Heathrow Express and Hull Trains .

The railway companies that emerged from the break-up of British Rail protect their interests through the Rail Delivery Group . Under the brand name National Rail and the logo of the former British Rail, this association organizes a common tariff structure with a uniform range of tickets.

Freight transport

The freight is fully commercialized, the various operators do not receive payments from the government. There are currently six operating companies that carry out freight transport. These are DB Cargo UK , Direct Rail Services , Fastline , Freightliner , GB Railfreight and Mendip Rail .

Rolling stock leasing

Most railway companies do not have their own rolling stock , but borrow them from leasing companies . This is particularly true of passenger traffic. After the privatization of British Rail, the rolling stock was either sold directly to operating companies (rarely, almost exclusively in freight transport) or to leasing companies. In addition to the three large companies Angel Trains ( Royal Bank of Scotland RBS), HSBC Rail ( HSBC ) and Porterbrook ( Abbey National Bank ), which have long-term agreements with the operating companies, smaller leasing companies have emerged that operate on a short-term basis.

Supervisory authorities

Since the British Railways are privatized, they are not run directly by the government. However, they are subject to economic and safety regulations issued by various government agencies.

In 2006, the Ministry of Transport took over most of the tasks of the now dissolved Strategic Rail Authority . The Ministry's rail transport department is now responsible for tendering franchises for passenger transport. As soon as these are assigned, the ministry monitors compliance with the contracts and intervenes in the event of misconduct. The franchises determine the services to be provided in passenger transport and the quality requirements that the operating companies must meet (e.g. cleanliness, equipment and opening times of the stations, punctuality and reliability of the trains). For some franchises, the operating companies receive subsidies.

The second supervisory authority is the Office of Rail Regulation , which monitors economic and safety issues. The Rail Safety and Standards Board coordinates the efforts of the individual groups involved to improve rail safety.

Structure of the railway system

Supervisory authorities

Rail network infrastructure

Other national organizations

Regional organizations

swell

Web links

Commons : Railways in Great Britain  - Collection of images, videos and audio files