Switch to Oil Reduces Traffic in Western Europe
Page 59
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A LTHOUGH the economy of Western 1—iEurope expanded in 1958, there was a reduction in transport by rail and inland waterway which was far from offset by an increase in road traffic. This was largely because of a switch from the use of coal to oil. Not only need a smaller tonnage of oil be carried in substitution for an amount of coal of equivalent heat value, but oil may conveniently be distributed by pipeline.
This is explained in the latest edition of the "Annual Bulletin of Transport Statistics for Europe," published by the Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva, Switzerland, at 9s. It states that the tonnage of petroleum products carried by pipeline in 10 or 15 years may be 4-5 per cent. of the total of all goods carried by various means of transport. The corresponding current figure for the U.S.A. is 16 per cent.
Of a group of 10 Western European countries, Great Britain is shown as returning the highest passenger-mileage for rail and bus travel in 1958. The total for the two was 75,000m. passengermiles (with road transport responsible for two-thirds of this figure), whilst the second highest was from France at 65,000m, passenger-miles, almost equally divided between road and rail.
France had the largest fleet of goods vehicles in Western Europe, and of the total of 1,432,100, 1.331,200 were run by ancillary users. The British fleet, at 1,289,000, was the second biggest. That of Western Germany totalled 644,395, and of Italy, 511.570. Estimates are given for the tonnages carried by road in 16 countries. The Russian figure of 6,474.4m. tons in 1958 was most closely approached by the British total of 1,000m.
International movement of vehicles is the subject of two tables in• the book. One concerns passenger and the other goods vehicles. The first-mentioned reveals that Switzerland was the most pcipular destination for British coaches in 1958. A total of 1,415 of our vehicles entered that country, 8 per cent. more than in 1957.
The number of British goods vehicles which entered Western Germany in 1958, 176. was more than three times as many as in the previous year. Twenty-seven British lorries went to Switzerland and five to Yugoslavia