Holding The Line

How Britain's Railways Were Saved

Chris Austin, Lord Richard Faulkner (Author)

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English

Crecy Publishing
15 May 2018

Railway transport industries; Trains & railways: general interest

At its zenith, the British railway network was 21,000 route miles long, twice its present size. Yet it now carries more passenger miles than at its fullest extent and urgently needs more capacity to grow further. The massive reduction in Britain's national railway network resulted from a sustained campaign by a number of individuals, who believed that railways had had their day, that economies had to be made and that you could not stop what they saw as 'progress'. Although the process of railway closure started early, the pace accelerated during the 1950s and peaked in the years following the Beeching report- The Reshaping of British Railways - published in early 1963. However, it could have been even worse. Original research by the authors reveals plans to reduce the size of the railway network further and an assumption, in the early 1990s, that market forces would shrink the network where Government policies had failed. Had these been implemented, only a handful of lines would have remained with the network destroyed forever. The past is vital to understanding today's railway as the industry struggles to meet the demands made of it.

Trimming at the margins remains a compelling argument for policy makers unaware of history, and the risk remains that mistakes could be repeated. Drawing upon a wide range of documents, including cabinet papers, Holding the Line is an explosive account of how close the railway industry came to being eviscerated and how the dangers of 'closure by stealth' still exist in the contemporary age.

By: Chris Austin, Lord Richard Faulkner (Author)
Imprint: Crecy Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 297mm, Width: 210mm,
ISBN: 9780860936763
ISBN 10: 0860936767
Pages: 144
Publication Date: 15 May 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Railways and a co-opted member of the Railway Heritage Committee. Chairman of the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust, he is also an active volunteer on the line, as well as with the Heritage Railway Association. He joined BR in 1967, working in local management and project planning. For ten years he was the Board's Parliamentary Affairs Manager covering the period of privatisation. He set up and ran a political consultancy for the rail industry before moving to the Strategic Rail Authority where, his responsibilities included producing the Community Rail Development strategy. He retired in February, 2009 as Head of Public Affairs for ATOC. He is a graduate of Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics and was awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to the railway industry. Richard Faulkner (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) is a Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords, which he joined as a working peer in 1999. From 2009-2010 he was a minister in the government whips' office, where he had spokesman responsibilities for transport. He is treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Railway Group, and vice-chair of the Heritage Rail Group. He is a trustee of the Science Museum, and chair-designate of the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board, which will take over the statutory powers of the Railway Heritage Committee in 2013 (the body he chaired until 2009). He is also President of the Heritage Railway Association. Prior to entering the House of Lords he worked as a parliamentary affairs and public relations consultant. For over 20 years (1977-1998) he worked as an adviser to the British Railways Board. He is a vice-president of the Campaign for Better Transport (previously Transport 2000), and formerly its vice-chair. He is a graduate of Oxford University, an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and a fellow of the University of Worcester.

Reviews for Holding The Line: How Britain's Railways Were Saved

This book will appeal to lovers of politics as much as railways, with its numerous extracts from Hansard and study of the lobbying tactics employed by British Rail that ultimately saved them. For an insight into how much smaller the rail network could have been if it wasn't for the valiant rearguard actions of a few individuals, this book is well worth a read; railwaystoday.com