Beeching 50 years on: NCE readers' revivals

It was a railway experiencing spiralling losses of £300,000 a day by 1961. The good doctor duly wielded his axe, cutting over 6,400km of line by 1966 on an efficiency and cost basis.

The Beeching Report, officially titled “The Reshaping of British Railways”, was seen by many as an act of wanton butchery, but the man himself was unrepentant: “I suppose I’ll always be looked upon as the axe man, but it was surgery, not mad chopping.” The Beeching Scalpel then, maybe?

In the interests of fairness, it is perhaps important to point out that Beeching did bring about a raft of savings for the railway. He was picked precisely for the technocratic, hardheaded approach he could bring to the task. As a scientist and engineer, he was swayed by numbers and logic, not emotion. He did the job he was asked to do.

Freight revolution

A less publicised positive of his report was his revolutionising of the freight rail system in the country, something still recognised by those in the sector today.

“Beeching is a much maligned figure for what he did to passenger rail services,” says Freight on Rail manager Phillipa Edmunds, who adds: “It’s easy to forget that he dramatically modernised freight, with containerisation and the promotion of rail for long-distance haulage. It’s a system which has served the industry well and allowed it to thrive. One of Beeching’s legacies is a rail freight sector that can transport goods in a cost-effective way, helping tackle road congestion and reduce the environmental and social impact of haulage.”

Passenger revival

Even so, on the passenger side, there has been a shift back to the railways. 50 years on passenger numbers are on the up, with 1.3bn journeys being made per year. Routes and services are becoming more and more congested, so much so Network Rail managing director of infrastructure projects Simon Kirby has said that he wants to add 180,000 extra seats on peak time services to meet this demand.

“In terms of growth, there are more train journeys now in the UK than ever before, and the projection is that these will grow,” Kirby told delegates at the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award Summit last month.

As such, investment in the railway is also spiking, with large projects such as Thameslink and Crossrail, alongside station redevelopments such as Birmingham New Street, looking to modernise the network and future-proof it for the expected growth over the coming decades. With this is in mind, NCE thought it was a good time to re-examine the Beeching Cuts and ask its readers for suggestions on how they would roll back some of the routes affected before.

As might be expected from a readership of engineers, the suggestions were well-reasoned, thoughtful and, prima facie, inherently plausible. Many had taken into account the logistics and stark reality of putting back together disused, denuded and, in places, removed track, as well as bringing to bear the more emotive rationales too.

The Grand Central Line reopening is seen as a vital freight link to Europe, due to its continental gauge. Others, such as the Midland Main Line and Okehampton-Bere Alston line, offer alternative routes to those affected by congestion or a problematic location. The Arundel Chord and Skipton-Colne link options have been considered in great detail, with the important factor being a potentially massive benefit for a relatively small outlay.

Perhaps the one idea put forward with a hint of romance and nostalgia is the Cockermouth-Keswick- Penrith route in the Lake District. This would reduce congestion on the roads going into the area, delivering tourists there without recourse to their cars. This would reduce pollution of both the fume and noise variety in the region, helping to maintain a spot of clear natural beauty.

In an era that is leaning towards both speed (High Speed 2) and capacity (Thameslink among others) it is perhaps time to not only consider brand new projects that need starting from the ground up, with all their associated costs, but perhaps build on what was there before, to complement what we have and will have. Some of the possibilities put forward would require relatively little to get them moving again, and do raise the question of whether new feasibility studies should take place.

So, what do you think of these proposals, and what would you suggest should be rolled back from the Beeching Cuts? Emails to nce.editorial@nce.co.uk