Railways Irreplaceable: Denationalize Haulage
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Railways the Main Transport Problem: Insufficient Funds Devoted to Rail and Road Transport: New Equipment—Particularly Roadways—Badly Needed OAD transport's superiority over rail for many types of traffic did not fly that the railways had had their ; a policy of scrapping and coating railways to arterial roads would tn writing off thousands of millions capital. There was a place for rail s in the scheme of transport.
his theme was developed in the er, "Transport Problems Affecting ustry," read by Mr. C. E. Jordan, lnst.T., national chairman of the ustrial Transport Association, at the ■ ociation's congress in London, last k.
n 40 years' experience of transport Iplems, said Mr. Jordan, he could not all a time when traders and induslists in this country had so much ■ se for complaint over the transport teflon. It was no wonder that there re over 750.000 C-licenced vehicles.
Modernization Needed
or 25 years, successive Governments pursued the policy of deliberately )osing taxation on road transport with purpose of helping the railways. ere was, nevertheless, a place for lways. They required radical modIzation. Sfock was built to last too g, so that full advantage could not taken of modern technical developnts. This retarded the turn-round of tides and increased costs.
t was curious That, except in the tter of transport, the Government was iscious of its responsibility to provide )ds for the capital equipment of :tonal concerns. No less than £50m. s being spent on a modern steel plant South Wales. Over the next four trs, £400m. was being spent on elec;lily generators and distribution, 50m. on re-equipping coal mines and 5m. on developing the petrol-refining lustry. ft was no use producing coal, steel d munitions unless they could be ived promptly and efficiently. It was ficult to assess the loss to the coinmity of the failure of successive Mini; of Transport to secure justice for the nsport industry and of the persistent usal of the Government to allocate y money for motorways.
Of all the road schemes crying out immediate attention, the plan for proved road communications between uth Wales, Bristol and the Midlands aid be singled out. A total cost of 5m. would produce a saving of 274,000 a year in the running costs Operator's vehicles.
My next road transport problem is persuade the Minister of Transport to take action on the raising of the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles from 20 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h.," said Mr. Jordan. The first duty of a government was to govern, and as the Minister had satisfied himself that the proposal to raise the speed limit was reasonable and desirable, he should not have succumbed to "dictatorship of the proletariat."
Traders were all concerned at the indifferent service received from the Road Haulage Executive. The case for nationalizing this robust arm of transport was never established. Serious consideration should be given to its denationalization or to giving the free haulier the opportunity of competing on equal terms for long-distance traffic.
Road haulage did not lend itself to large-scale operation, It was essentially a job for small units which could give personal and individual attention.
Traders were not receiving the reliable and efficient service which had been a conspicuous feature of free-enterprise road transport. Not the least of the reasons for the decline in the quality of the service was the frustration existing among the drivers. This was expressed in the frequency of strikes, The promised land held out to drivers had proved a desert.
Drivers did not work with the same will and enthusiasm as under private enterprise. The incentives in the way of wages in excess of the trade-union standard, bonuses and the possibilities of a partnership or a share in the profits had disappeared. Whereas three round trips between two centres of industry used to be operated, only two were now carried out.
On the question of competition by C-licence vehicles, Mr Jordan referred to the findings of a Ministry of Transport analysis of the position. This had shown that out of approximately 700,000 such vehicles, at most only 2 per cent. (14,000) were over 3 tons unladen weight and operating outside a 40-mile radius.
This small percentage alone could not be considered as in any way competitive with nationalized long-distance transport. The figure included, moreover, tankers specifically excluded from the Transport Act, 1947, articulated vehicles employed on shuttle services between works and abnormal-load carriers.
Higher Speeds—Higher Pay
Several suggestions on methods of overcoming the problems outlined by Mr. Jordan were made by speakers during the discussion. Mr. J. N. Hanna, dealing with the question of raising the speed limit from 20-30 m.p.h., said that the unions were against the chan.ge, because the drivers believed that the higher speed would mean tighter schedules and less free time. The way to overcome this difficulty would be to offer slightly higher rates of pay. Traders would still be willing to pay a little more for better service, •
Mr. I. V ,Redston (Servis Recorders, Ltd.) said that transport managers were even more frustrated than the drivers. Mechanical handling would enable work to be done more rapidly and cheaper, but it was difficult to get such things as fork-lift trucks adopted by the men. The policy should be to educate the unions to realise that the national economy would suffer if such aids were not used.
He also suggested that if money could not be spent on new motorways, something should be done to finish partially completed work, such as the widening of some of the main trunk roads.
Mr. Barnes Absent At the annual dinner, the president, Lord Gifford, proposed the toast, "His Majesty's Ministers," but Mr. A. Barnes. who should have responded, was otherwise engaged. Lord Gifford referred to the courage and hard work of Lord Teynham in connection with the Trans port (Amendment) Bill.
Members had recently joined the Association from many parts of the world. Most of them ran C-licensed vehicles. They did not want to buy other than essential vehicles, and they would be pleased if British Road Services or free hauliers could give them the necessary service.
Lord Teynham, D.S.O., D.S.C., president of the National Road Transport Federation, said that there was an optimum size of a transport organization beyond which management became difficult.
Mr. Jordan declared that the nationalized railways, despite rising rates and fares, had failed to meet the financial requirements of the Act.
Mr. C. Courtney Cramp, M.Inst.T., MI.R.T.E., a past president, spoke with much humour