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• Widespread welcome for High Speed rail plan
• Adonis publishes plans for 540km 'y-shaped' High Speed network

Trackback

Recall the years since 1963, in our growing series of annual snapshots. full story

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  1963

  1963 was a turning point for the railways in Britain. The British Railways Board took over from the British Transport Commission on 1 January, and the first edition of Railnews was published in July. But railways really hit the headlines on 27 March, when the Chairman, Dr Richard Beeching, published his report on The Reshaping of British Railways.

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  1964

  1964 was the first full year in which the recommendations of the 1963 Beeching Report started to come into effect. 1595km of route was closed, 571 stations were closed to passengers and almost 1800 freight yards were taken out of use. Another 2075 steam locomotives were scrapped, and 408 diesels entered service. The withdrawal of steam locomotives meant that large areas were now almost entirely worked by diesels, including most of the West Country and many of the non-electrified main routes elsewhere. Modernisation was continuing, and the economies of this (plus closures) helped to reduce the British Railways Board working deficit by £14.8m to £67.5m.