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The Railways Have Indigestion!

15th April 1938, Page 32
15th April 1938
Page 32
Page 32, 15th April 1938 — The Railways Have Indigestion!
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

WITHIN recent years, railway VV income has shown a decided increase. The daily Press has marked this as a welcome sign of trade revival and has disregarded the fact that much of the railway traffic has been diverted from the roads by ill-advised and repressive legislation. In fact, it would not be exaggerating to say that something like 25 per cent, of the increase is due to natural expansion, whilst 75 per cent, must be attributed to unnatural contraction of road transport.

There are two sides to every question, but often one of those sides is a hastily erected rampart which can be abolished by logic. As an ,instance, can anyone who is fully conversant with the trend of road-transport legislation deny that the greatest benefit has been to the railways? Co-ordination, elimination of wasteful competition, diversion of certain goods to their proper transport media—all these are weak side issues.

Legislation Benefits Railways.

The discomforting thought remains that every atom of legislation since the inception of the traffic courts— and even before that—has been directed solely towards the betterment of the railways. One might say that any incidental advantages accruing to road transport have been accidents—mere side issues.

So now we are enchanted by wordy reports on the danger to signalgantries and such archaic paraphernalia in time of war, whilst the flexible system of road transport is accorded only a few words. Why any Government should overlook the obvious advantages of road transport in order to bolster up a form of transport which is incapable of adjustment

B22 in time of emergency is certainly a profound mystery.

The Superintendent of the Line to the Great Western Railway has recently been gathering a little publicity in the daily Press. The burden of his complaint has been that holidays should be staggered in order to relieve the congestion caused in the peak summer months. He has naively stated that the railways may be unable to cope with the extra holiday-making traffic resulting from the holidays-with-pay schemes. If the comparatively minor increase in traffic—and seasonal, at that—is going to incommode the railways, why are they so eager to filch traffic from the roads?

The number of persons affected by the holidays-with-pay schemes is variously estimated at from 2,000,000 to 6,000,000. Striking an average and calling it 4,000,000, road transport demands, in justice, to share in such transportation. Putting individual fares at so low an average as 5s. per head, here is £1,000,000 to be spent on transport. It means extra vehicles, and these should and must be road, not rail, vehicles.

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the Traffic Commissioners to this problem. Are the coaches still to be restricted ? Must the companies still turn passengers away because of bans on duplication ? Perhaps, had road transport never reached its present state of perfection, we should have been regaled with the sight of middle-class holidaymakers travelling seawards in converted cattle trucks_ If war should come, it would surely place road transport in its rightful place. The industry would be looked to then to steer its detractors through a period of great trial, as it was looked to in 1926 during the General Strike.

What we want, however, is that it should be looked to for the provision of useful facilities in times of peacetimes of holiday—times of normal trading. Surely if it be of such strength as to depend upon in an emergency, it should be accorded not the privilege (at the whim of a traffic court) but the right to serve the community. We do not want it to be granted this privilege in years to come, when air transport is seeking to oust it, but now.

Railway Apprehension.

The railways appear to fear an onrush of business; they seem to be apprehensive_ of their ability to deal efficiently with the traffic that the Government has given them, so let road transport have a chance of tackling the job.

It is probable that in the near future seasonal holidays will be staggered', although any such movement will be too late to affect arrangements made for this summer. Why should thousands of people who wish to travel to the sea in modern luxury coaches be forced by the Government's grandmotherly attitude to the railways into ancient railway coaches brought, by the rush, into service from a long term of retirement?

J.D.P.

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