What is the impact of railways?
Rosalia Kilback
2025-04-25 10:45:46
Count answers: 3
The UK’s railways are the oldest in the world and played a large part in helping us to become the world’s first industrialised country. The railways brought major changes to industry, politics and society. People could travel more, and MPs and political movements, like the Chartists, could move from constituencies more easily. And of course, the railways became a major employer. Today, railways play a pivotal role in our transport system. They are a fast, safe and effective way of moving passengers and freight from one part of the country to the other as well as internationally. Last year, in spite of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, 703 million rail journeys were made.
The railways have played a vital role in the economic prosperity of the nation and are in fact the greenest form of public transport it has. They produce 80% less gas emissions than cars and in 2019, they produced less than 2% of the country’s domestic emissions whilst accounting for 9% of passenger miles travelled across the nation. However, there can be no doubt that railways have also had some cost to our environment, including noise, vibrations, and carbon emissions that pollute the air, soil, water and cause damage to living organisms.
Reginald Langosh
2025-04-25 10:32:44
Count answers: 2
Even in those first ten years, railways were beginning to lead to significant changes within British society.
Road transport could not compete.
As well as being much more time consuming, it was also more expensive.
Compared to canal the time savings were even more significant.
The cost of canal carriage was 15 shillings a ton, whereas by rail it was 10 shillings a ton.
Railways allowed people to travel further, more quickly.
This allowed leisure travel, and contributed to the growth of seaside resorts.
It also allowed people to live further from their places of work, as the phenomenon of commuting took hold.
Railways even contributed to the growth of cities, by allowing the cheap transport of food, as well as bricks, slate and other building materials.
They also gave a great stimulus to industry by reducing the freight costs of heavy materials such as coal and minerals, as well as reducing costs of transporting finished goods around the country.
Damon Schinner
2025-04-25 09:33:59
Count answers: 1
The railways changed British society in numerous and complex ways. Although recent attempts to measure the economic significance of the railways have suggested that their overall contribution to the growth of GDP was more modest than an earlier generation of historians argued, it is nonetheless clear that the railways had a sizable impact in many spheres of economic activity. The building of railways and locomotives, for example, called for large quantities of heavy materials and thus provided significant stimulus to the coal-mining, iron-production, engineering, and construction industries. The railways also helped reduce transaction costs, which in turn lowered the costs of goods. The distribution and sale of perishable goods such as meat, milk, fish, and vegetables was transformed, giving rise not only to cheaper produce in the stores but also to far greater variety in people's diets. Prices of fuel and food fell in cities connected to railways in accordance with the fall in the cost of transport. The railways were also a significant force for the changing patterns of human mobility. Rail transport had originally been conceived as a way of moving coal and industrial goods but the railway operators quickly realized the potential for market for railway travel, leading to an extremely rapid expansion in passenger services. The number of railway passengers tripled in just eight years between 1842 and 1850. Traffic volumes roughly doubled in the 1850s and then doubled again in the 1860s. In terms of mobility and choice the railways added a new dimension to everyday life. Less than 20 years after the Liverpool line opened, it was possible to travel from London to Scotland by train in a small fraction of the former time by road.
Dorthy Pfeffer
2025-04-25 09:20:07
Count answers: 3
The railway can give a major boost to cities all around Britain. Cities account for almost two-thirds of Britain’s economic output. Their success is vital to securing growth. And the railway is crucial in helping unlock productivity in cities, particularly those outside London. The railway’s ability to move large numbers of people and goods quickly within and between cities and local regions is a big driver of this growth. In the same way, the railway can also help different industries form and develop inside cities. Cities with a mix of industries are vital to our national economy. They drive jobs, creativity, and innovation in ways that virtual working can’t fully replace. Improved rail connections between cities are crucial for regional growth. The railway is also a greener alternative to road transport. Every day, it moves millions of people and freight efficiently and sustainably. Your train journeys help the environment and contribute to the government’s net-zero targets.
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