Consider how the transport system in your country might he improved
All services are capable of improvement, even the transport services of Western Europe and other western countries, where rail, road and air transport have long been established, and where there are few, if any, obstacles to the establishment of physical communications. It is a more basic problem for the emergent countries, where often mountain ranges and dense afforestation have to be overcome. In this essay the problems of England are considered.
Railways began to spread over England from about 1800, and until 1945 there existed a network which gave easy access from even the smallest village to all the main centers. Since then the system has deteriorated out of all recognition, for a variety of reasons but basically because England’s constantly growing road network has shifted both passenger and goods transport away from the railways. In consequence almost all small lines have been closed down, and basically what is left is the inter-city network and London’s commuter service from the home counties. Speed has improved with the adoption of the diesel motor but the experimental high-speed trains have proved a fiasco. As in most other western countries after the war the system became nationalized. High wage demands, lack of money for capital expenditure, and the general indifference of nationally unreliable, and generally unpopular, although we are constantly told that this is the age of the train, by Jimmy Savile. He is wrong. The ‘age of the train’ ended in 1954. Moreover British Rail makes massive annual losses, as indeed do most other European countries. Only a reversion to private ownership, as in the days of the rail system comfortable, economic and cared-for, and this is unlikely to happen. The present government is merely selling off minor assets, such as railway hotels and in some cases catering on railway platforms and in dining cars.
The Socialist doctrine affirms that as a national service British Rail should not expect to make a profit or break even and should be subsidized by the tax payer. The Thatcher Government sees this as bad housekeeping despite the fact that most European rail systems are already heavily subsidized. About half the population probably accepts that competitiveness is the only real way forward.
Goods transport has largely moved over to the heavy, container-type lorry. In turn this involves the provision of suitable roads, and the road building program is severely limited by finance. The environmental lobby rightly complains about the damage done by these vehicles, especially in small villages, about the danger of pollution, about traffic jams, and about the loss of agricultural land where M roads are built. These drawbacks can and must be overcome by the provision of by-pass and further M roads. The London outer circle M 25, when completed, will remove heavy through traffic from the streets of London. Small vehicles and private cars, owned nowadays by over half of the population will also be able to move about more freely, and parking problems which at present bedevil all large towns and cities will be alleviated.
In a small country like England, internal air travel is of importance primarily to business people and nowadays all major cities have their own airports. London will eventually have five. Since there is ample private competition for British Airways, that organization, which of course operates a world-wide network, is efficient. The inefficiency is on the ground. It can take longer to reach Heath Row and pass through customs and baggage formalities than it takes to fly to Paris of Dusseldorf.
Rivers and canals must not be overlooked. There is a valuable move, backed by the environmentalists, to restore the waterways, not only as a means of commercial transport but also for tourism. This involves both bank-clearing and the enforcement of anti-pollution laws. The River Thames now contains a wide variety of fish whereas for over a century it contained none. Unfortunately it is little used for commercial purposes, though progress is being made on all fronts.
Many of the transport problems in England, though not all, have stemmed from bad government theory and bad industrial relations in the past. Part of the problem has been a steady shift of population originally from country to town, and now the reverse. The task of promoting comfort, safety, economic cost, speed and reliability is not easy, but is being tackled.
