True Objectives
Page 25
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LET battle commence. That would have been an appropriate comment last June when British Railways supplemented earlier evidence to .the Geddes Committee with their "Study of the Relative True Costs of Rail and Road Freight Transport over Trunk Routes ".
That was the opening salvo. Since then that unfortunate committee has been bombarded from all sides with " new" evidence on that ageold hobbyhorse of track costs. Even the Ministry of Transport itself has been constrained to take a ranging shot or two. Then last week the TransportHolding Company fired a broadside.
But where does all this lead? In the heat of the battle there is the real danger that a true sense of values and objectives could be lost. Here and now all those whose livelihood is concerned with road transport should be reaffirming the great contribution their industry has made in the 20th century in increasing the country's wealth and widening the whole life and activity of each and every individual.
To mention only two facets of modern life which have been dependent on the advent of a nation-wide fleet of goods vehicles, there is the increasing trend of industry and trade towards speedier flow of products from factory to customer. Then in the passenger field the way of life for whole communities, particularly in rural areas, has been revitalized beyond recognition.
It is unthinkable, therefore, that the country's economic strength and the individual's way of life should be restricted by " integration" with a transport system based on a 19th century pattern. The expanding economy planned for the remaining years of this century will need more than ever the proved flexibility and virility of the road transport industry.