Rail transport in the United Kingdom

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Class 180 Multiple Unit of First Great Western at speed near Yate, Bristol, England. Top speed is 125 mph (201 kph)

The British railway system is the oldest in the world. It consists of almost 16,536 km (10,274 miles) of standard gauge track, of which 4,928 km (3,062 miles) is electrified.

Table of contents

1 Brief history and overview
2 Geography & infrastructure
3 Passenger Services
4 Freight Services
5 Statutory Framework
6 Local Metro systems
7 UK railway stations
8 Railway Industry

8.1 Statutory Authorities
8.2 Network Rail & Signalling Operations
8.3 Other National Entities
8.4 Regional Entities
8.5 Train Franchises (and operating company)
8.6 Freight railway companies
8.7 Open operators and other non-franchised passenger operators

9 Historic railway companies

9.8 Early railway companies (1820s-1840s)
9.9 Pre-Grouping (1923)
9.10 Grouping (1923 - 1947)

10 Heritage and Private Railways
11 See also
12 External Links

Brief history and overview

Great feats of engineering were performed in its creation. Examples from the Victorian era are the building of the Forth Rail Bridge, or the replacement of 177 miles (285 km) of broad gauge rail with standard gauge in a single weekend from May 21, 1892. Such feats are not things of the past; recent and current examples are the building of the Channel tunnel for the link to the Continental railway systems, and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from London to the tunnel.

The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries these amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained (see railway mania).

From January 1 1923 the remaining companies were grouped into the "big four", the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway companies. These were joint stock public companies and they continued to run the railway system until December 31 1947, although nearly bankrupt as a result of the Second World War. From the first moment of the following year, they were nationalised and amalgamated to form British Railways (latterly "British Rail"). During the next fifty years the railways entered a slow decline owing to a lack of investment and changes in transport policy and lifestyles. A major reduction in the network occurred during the mid-1960s after chairman Richard Beeching's review of the railway network (also known as the "Beeching axe"). Many branch lines, particularly rural lines serving communities which relied heavily on their local railways, were closed at that time and this also had the effect of removing a lot of the feeder traffic from the main lines, particularly freight traffic. This move was extremely unpopular at the time, and remains so today.

In the mid 1990s it was decided to privatise British Rail. The track and infrastructure was devolved to a company called Railtrack, whilst ticketing and passenger and freight operations were franchised to individual private sector operators.

The government claimed that privatisation would see an improvement in passenger services: it is debatable whether this outcome has yet been realised. A series of major rail accidents after privatisation - at Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield, Potters Bar, and Selby - caused widespread loss of confidence in the safety of rail travel.

After the Hatfield crash, speed limits were drastically reduced throughout Britain and train travel was seriously disrupted for months. Railtrack came close to bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of additional safety measures and was effectively re-nationalised, when ownership of the railway system was transferred to the newly-created "not for profit" company limited by guarantee, Network Rail on October 3, 2002.

For a more detailed history refer to History of rail transport in Great Britain

Geography & infrastructure

Great Britain is an island roughly triangular with an acute apex. The capital, London is in the south-east. Main railway lines radiate from London in many directions; the major lines are discussed elsewhere on Wikipedia (see linkbox, below).

At the end of September 2003 the first part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a high speed link to the Channel Tunnel and on to France and Belgium was completed, significantly adding to the rail infrastructure of the country. the rest of the link, from north Kent to St Pancras railway station in London, is planned to open in 2007. A major programme of remedial work on the West Coast Main Line is ongoing.

Major railway lines in the United Kingdom:
Classic lines:
East Coast | Great Eastern | Great Western | Midland | West Coast
Modern lines:
Channel Tunnel Rail Link | Channel Tunnel