Political Commentary
Page 69
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The Man Who Hates Trains
By JANUS
SOMEBODY was bound, sooner or later, to set up a society for promoting the replacement of rails by roads on Britain's permanent way. The credit for making the ultimate move is well deserved by Brig. T. I. Lloyd, for his research on the subject, and for his latest publication, "Twilight of the Railways" (reviewed in The Commercial Motor last week). Simultaneously, Brig. Lloyd has sponsored the formation of what he calls the Railway Conversion League.
There is a distinct flavour of comparative religion in his choice of titles, and it lasts into the first few pages of his book. "'The everlasting asset is the WAY, the RIGHT-OFWAY," he says, in terms that might well have come undiluted from a textbook on Taoism or a tract on revisionism.
One might think the Brigadier approaches the subject in this way out of respect for the rapt devotions that he is rudely disturbing. The cult of the railways is virtually a national industry, and not merely among small boys. There are-no end of people who note down the numbers of trains in much the same spirit as their less dedicated fellows linger over the statistics of Sabrina.
"Every Man Destroys .. ."
Perhaps the susceptibilities of such people justify the appropriate ritual if the thing they love is about to be destroyed. If some such thought was in Brig. Lloyd's mind at the outset, he found little difficulty in suppressing it. At his most brutal, he can bring himself to say: "Very possibly the greatest single boon in railway conversion, so far as fare-paying passengers are concerned, will consiSt in their saying good-bye to the timetable."
From this point, of course, there is no turning back. The Brigadier could hardly have planted his barb in a more wounding spot. He is beyond reach of forgiveness this side of the grave.
If it comes to a battle, he is well able to look after himself. Although his little book runs to a mere 80 pages, he has put over his case with ruthless clarity, and answered most of the possible objections as well. He sets them up like clay pigeons, and picks them off unerringly, with deadly accuracy.
Native Supply Should the war-time value of railways be argued, Brig. Lloyd doubts their use in an age of nuclear weapons. If the contrast is made between indigenous and imported fuels, he points out that the fuel requirements of industry are already greatly in excess of the native supply, and that, if fuel has to be imported, it no longer matters whether it is liquid or solid. On the subject of safety, he emphasizes that his converted railways will have all the advantages and more of the proposed new motorways, with exclusive use for mechanical vehicles, the minimum number of intersections, and enforced high standards of driving and vehicle condition.
He has assembled facts and figures from a wide range of sources. At one time, he is quoting the example of the Acorn Bank opencast site in Northumberland, where the contractors have built their own road for 14 miles from pithead to railhead, and plan to use it to carry 5m, tons over a period of seven years. This procedure is considered to be more economical than any extension of the existing
railway or using the public road which is already available.
On the next page, the Brigadier is at Waterloo Station, where during the evening rush some 68 trains may depart in an hour, carrying perhaps 47,600 passengers, an average of 700 per train. He would prefer to see 60-seater buses leaving each of Waterloo's converted platforms at the rate of one every 14 minutes, and taking away 50,000 seated passengers in the hour. A little later, he is in the U.S.A., where the $50,000m. scheme for 41,000 miles of modern roads will not, he says, provide a system remotely corn; parable to what Britain will gain through railway conversion.
Over Their Shoulders .
If the campaign begins to take effect, the railways will, be looking over their shoulder with a shudder every time statistics are issued about their activities. Only the other day, the Economic Commission for Europe issued a report stating, among other things, that 8.7 per cent. of total world consumption of steel goes directly or indirectly into railways. 4.4 per cent, in the form of rails and accessories. It will surely not be long before the Brigadier assimilates this fact into his formidable indictment of our system of railways.
He must be aware, although he gives no hint of it, that his campaign is unlikely to succeed at least for a long time to come. The vested interests are too strong. Public opinion is still that the railways are indispensable for certain traffics. All the political parties are agreed on this point, and support the Minister of Transport when he says that " £1,500m. of your money and mine is pledged to the task of rebuilding the railways." When it succeeds, " as it must," the Minister adds, the railwayman's job will become again one of the top jobs in industry, and will be paid accordingly. "Fares could go down and travelling.comfort up," concludes the Minister.
No Major Savings
To this, Brig. Lloyd would answer that his proposals would save the nation at least £1,000m. a year, and make it possible to bring down passenger fares to id. per rriile, and goods rates correspondingly. As for the railway modernization scheme, he points out in an appendix that the reduction in working expenses that is proposed in order to make the railways solvent would leave a total foughly equivalent to the present wages bill alone. There is no provision in the scheme, says the Brigadier, for major savings in manpower.
He is the man who hates trains. Unencumbered by affection, he sees them as obsolete, as the instruments of inflation, as one of the major causes for the sickness in the nation's economy. Every mile of road, he says, yields the Treasury approximately £2,000 a year net. Every mile of iron road, "encumbering that superior route the permanent way," costs more than 0,000 a year to the country. The motorist pays more than £50 a year ground rent for his car, while immensely larger vehicles are each subsidized to the extent of approximately £100 a year.
Brig. Lloyd's vision may conceivably come true some day. Many railway branch lines have been abandoned, and some of them could well be converted to roads if required. The main routes, on which so much money has already been spent, will remain active for a long time to come, if only to justify the politicians.