The 200th birthday of the train and the birth of revolutionary transport

In 1825, George Stephenson built the first practical train. The first ever locomotive journey did not take place near London but in north-east England from Stockton to Darlington. There had been horse drawn carts that moved on rails for decades prior to that. There had been steam engines on the road which pulled very heavy loads, but they were slower than walking pace. Stephenson had the idea of putting the steam engine on rails and so the train was born.

The United Kingdom was said to have girded the world in iron in the 19th century with British railway engineers building railway lines all over the globe. It was not just in British colonies that Britons constructed railways. They were hired to do so in Russia, Argentina, Turkey and suchlike. British companies owned some of these railways in other countries, even in the early 20th century.

The First World War was the zenith of railways. Men and munitions were moved by rail. Only the last part of the journey from the railway station to the frontline was completed by horse drawn carriage or more rarely by truck.

Karl Benz’s internal combustion engine sounded the death knell of the age of steam. He invented the car. Trains were still used but in the mid-20th century it started to switch to diesel and sometimes electricity as a means of power.

In the 1920s automobile production stepped up. Cars, buses and trucks had the advantage of not needing rails. Some did not even need roads. So, railway lines started to be shut down: just a few at first.

In the 1950s cars became affordable for middle class Britons. In the 1960s car ownership exploded. It quadrupled in a decade. Working class Britons started to afford cars.

In the 1960s the British Government commissioned Dr Beeching to examine the future of rail transport. He published his report, Reshaping Britain’s Railways. The learned doctor observed that 20% of the lines carried 80% of the traffic. Some railway lines were making huge losses. Some stations were hardly used. The situation was patently unsustainable.

Beeching’s report recommended closing down many of the railway lines and stations. This consolidation would allow money to be used to upgrade the important railway lines.

There were some who went further. They said that trains were old hat. Railway lines should be closed down completely. They had reached obsolescence.

Beeching’s axe fell on many lines and stations. Some railways and stations that he recommended closing were saved from the ‘Beeching axe’ because of local protest and political intervention. Nonetheless his report was broadly implemented. Much of it was sensible and unarguable.

When Beeching’s report was published, the United Kingdom had 50 million inhabitants. It now has 70 million. The increase has not been even. The population has increased 50% in London and south-east England. The population has actually fallen in some regions such as north-east England in the last 60 years.

By the 2000s there were too many cars on the road. People began to speak about reopening railway lines. There were also environmental concerns about the carbon emissions from motor vehicles. The carbon emission per person from rail travel is far, far lower than from motor travel.

In the 2010s the United Kingdom commenced reopening railway lines. In some cases, it was not on the original track because some of the original route had been sold off and had subsequently been built on.

In 2010 the British Government announced it would build High Speed 2 (HS2). This would be a railway from London to Birmingham that would reduce the journey time from 90 minutes to 50 minutes. There was talk of extending it into High Speed 3 with HS3 going all the way to Scotland.

In 2013 Queen Elizabeth II was present in Edinburgh to reopen the first railway line built in Scotland for a century. In London the Elizabeth Line opened in 2022 which connects London with the small city of Reading to the west as well as some towns north-east of London. The Elizabeth Line is a very fast and comfortable line. It was only a little over budget and slightly behind schedule.

HS2 has run into very serious trouble. There were legal challenges about building it on green space and environmentally sensitive land. It has proven to be far, far more expensive than forecast. The construction is severely behind schedule. It was due to be completed in --- but will in fact be finished in ---. The cost is GBP 72 billion.

The cost of building railways in the United Kingdom is much, much higher than in comparable highly developed nations such as France and Germany. Despite these difficulties there is now a consensus that more railway lines need to be constructed.

Train fares in the United Kingdom are some of the priciest in the world. But the service is far from the best. Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and other European countries have superior railway systems at a lower cost. Railways in the UK are beset by delays, cancellations and overcrowding. If there is a death on the line, it is closed for hours to investigate. If cattle stray onto the line the train stops: it does not use its horn to scare the beast off, nudge it out of the way or even ram it. Thousands of people are inconvenienced for the sake of an animal.

British Rail was privatised in the 1990s. The trains have improved as has efficiency. But the cost has skyrocketed. The Labour Government is now renationalising the system and calling it Great British Railways (GBR). In Northern Ireland, the term ‘Northern Ireland Railways’ will be used, as some people there object to the word ‘British’. It remains to be seen if GBR can provide a better service at a less exorbitant cost.

Minor railway lines have been reopened in Bristol and in Co Durham. These are very popular and there is a call for even more stations.

London has the London Underground commonly called the tube. Much of the London Underground (the ‘tube’) is not actually under the ground despite the name.

The tube needs more lines. Canary Wharf is the financial district built in the 1980s. It is poorly connected to major stations such as London Waterloo. Overcrowding on the Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf is severe. Once I had to wait for a fourth train on the platform because the first three were so crowded that I could not even board.

The Northern Line is too crowded. It diverges in North London. There is a gap of several kilometres between the two branches. A new line is needed between them.

In East London, connectivity across the River Thames is poor. At least one more rail bridge and/or rail tunnel is needed there.

London Heathrow Airport needs to be connected to the main Paddington–Cardiff railway. It is only 5 km away.

London Luton Airport needs the railway line to go right to the airport and not stop at Luton Airport Parkway station 3 km away.

It seems like the era of the iron horse is far from over. In fact, it is dawning again. There have been self-driving trains on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London for 30 years. Why are there not self-driving trains all across the realm? The trade unions will fight tooth and nail to prevent it. Train drivers get high salaries for pressing stop and go. They do not even steer.

Strikes by railway drivers and other railway workers have been a bugbear for commuters. The strikers always say it is about passenger safety. Really it is Luddism. Railway staff are threatened by technology that makes them unnecessary. More automation would remove human error and high salaries.