How Transport Policy Can Be Reconstructed
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Prkis of a Valuable, Frank and constructive Paper Read by Mr. F. Smith before the Institute of Transport APARTICITLARLY interesting paper, "The Recon . struction of Transport Policy," was read before the Institute of Transport on October 14 by Mr. F. Smith, of Unilever, rtd. Summarized, the author makes the following statements:—Transport has become one of the determining factors in industry and can be said to form the framework of the national economy.
The new industry, road transport, has been allowed to reach maturity undirected and unplanned until it has become a most formidable competitor to the . railways. The railways, in defence, have undertaken some unproductive campaigns, urging further restrictions upon road transport and complete freedom from their own.
The solution of the problem lies in the development of operating policy, rather than in price control. Attempts at reform have been made recently, with little success. As a policy of development two courses are open—elimination of regulation and consequent freedom, or that based upOn a combined planning of rail and road. operation. .
• Railway operations are uneconomic. Wagons are not employed to full capacity, and there is a tremendous waste of engine power. Development should be based upon: more efficient use of available equipment. It is estimated that, by these means, the number of trains could be reduced , by two-thirds with financial savings estimated at £30,000,000 per. annum. .
Development of the Ministry of Transport organization is strongly. advocated, by the •establishment, of a full-time Transport Council (on the lines of the Air.CoUncil) comprised of fully experienced transport officers, dissociated from individual transport. interests. Such a general staff is an urgent need, not only during war time, -but for -the reconstruction for the post-war period.
Enlarging upon those points, the author says that it appears to him that for almost a generation . transport played a large part in the control of industry by. means of .the, railway-rates policy. It may never be known to what extent this either assisted or retarded industrial development.
• Developments Made Possible by Road Motors e
It could no doubt be proved that several industries owe their existence to the railways, but it 'is possible to obtain 'some measure of its retarding effects by considering what has happened since the introduction of the internal-combustion engine. Could it not be shown that, enormous developments had become possible because of the motor vehicle? It is quite certain that, on account of this latter development, transport has become the very framework of our economic system. •
With the development of the motor 'vehicle, industry rapidly found that it could escape the rigidities of the transport system which had dominated policy for' solong. As a result of individual purchases of ex-Army vehicles.' 'after the 1914-18 war, notonly did an extensive new industry—road transport—grow up, but almost for the first time there was opened up to trade and industry a much wider field for development than had been available.
Apart from the war, the transport problem is as formidable as ever, with the added. psychological difficulty ft.hat there are now large vested interests engaged in the roadlicensing system, in addition to the existence of powerful personalities who were responsible for the legislation of the past few years.
. The author asks whether the development of trade and industry is to be moulded by. transport policy, or whether 'the latter is to be moulded by the needs of industry. In one of the biggest schemes of reorganization which the author has., had to. haridte in commercial life. it was found possible So to control the manipulation of goods as to eliminate a vast amount of waste movetnent, but this involved considerable internal reorganization, and the question arose as to 'whether the reductions in cost of transport would be Sufficient to justify such sweeping changes. After much negotiation they were found to be so, but the railways were little disposed to make the reductions until they were faced with formidable competition.
Competition by road transport is riot dependent upon the fact that the system of charging upon the railways is based upon Other factors than cost of operation. It appears to be based upon the fact that, from an operating aspect, road tra,nsport shows a , higher degree of efficiency in some respects than railway transport. '
Whether the range of competition be wider or more restricted .than is believed, it has been felt by the railways to be of such general importance as to involve them in an intensive campaign which ha,s.lasted at least from 1932 and is designed to restrict road-transport activities.
It is true that when this did not produce the results the railways hoped for, as rapidly as they wished, they appealed for relief from their own restrictions in the campaign known as the " Square Deal," but in the early days they were out for some form of universal restriction of competitive forms of transport.
It was found impossible to obtain the approval of traders generally to anything like complete relaxation of railway restrictions, and the whole issue became again one of Price control, for the campaign had the effect of forcing hauliers and other forms of transport into closer relationship with the railways in 'the direction of agreement regarding price policy, hut after a year of war there does not a.ppear to be any greater prospectthan there was at the beginning of these interests corning to agreement.
• A Decision That Must Be Made • We must now decide positively, whether we are. to eliminate regulation ..except as to 'wages, -hours of dutY, conditions of service, public safety etc and open the trans port industry to complete freedom of competition, or go right over in the other direction and embark upon a systeth of complete planning.
The author remains with the minority in thinking that such complete freedom is more in accordance with the British temperament than in regulation, but he feels that . the alternative must be explored, i.e.,' that transport policy must' be so developed as to open the way for a system of planning which, while preserving to the public the advantages of all forms of transport, will not injure any, which will be equitable, and which will provide the framework around which Can be built a completely xeconstructect national economy designed to repair the ravages of war.
It is the earnest .submission of the author that the development of the internal-combustion engine, with the increased range of activity possible to the motor vehicle, and its greater load-carrying capacity, have placed at the disposal of the railways an instrument, by the proper use of which the whole of traffic-operating practice could be so transformed as th improve the statistical factors beyond all recognition and effect enormous savings, whilst improving the service to the public. -This can be attained by the .concentration of train. loading and train movement upon eeftain stations between which full wagon and train, loads can be assured. ,
• Traffic would be taken by road to these stations and delivered by road from other concentration stations withoat being moved, as to-day, in very lightly loaded wagons from small stations to trans-shipment centres, where they have to be, handled and again, moved in lightly loaded wagons and trains to small stations for ,distribution. The effect would be to make. possible ItillAvagon loads and train. loads to be run at. high speeds between these centres, so making greater use of wagon capacity and engine power.