speed of the train. The Diesel Limited Express was introduced in 1956 with one class only. In 1960, with the reforming of Limited Expresses (the Limited Express with Reserved Seating and Diesel Limited Express merged into one fare), all passenger trains officially offered only one class. Therefore, all expresses had only second class carriages and other trains only third class. As time passes, more types of carriages were introduced, but these were thought as types instead of classes. Europe At the very beginning of the railway age in Europe, almost every railway operator offered three classes for passenger services: "First class" was the most luxurious and least demanded class, equipped with rich upholstered seats, while "second class" was also upholstered, but on a lower level and with less seating space. In contrast, "third class" only provided wooden benches. While most passenger trains carried just one or two "first class" and "second class" carriages, every other carriage was "third class" only. Today there are generally two classes, known as "first class" and "second class" or "economy class", or the equivalent in the local language. In the United Kingdom, the Midland Railway abolished its "second class" in 1875, offering only "first class" and "third class" travel. In fact, it was the basic wood-seated "third class" carriages and compartments which were removed, with "third class" passengers now travelling in what had been "second class" but at the original lower price. At the same time, the Midland reduced the cost of its "first class" tickets to the prices previously charged for "second class". This move attracted many more passengers to Midland trains and other railway companies were pressured to follow. By the end of the 19th century, virtually all British trains consisted of only two classes (still called "first" and "third", both with fully upholstered (and lit and heated) seating arrangements. The exceptions were some "third class" trains provided for workmen under the Cheap Trains Act 1883 which retained wooden benches for ease of cleaning, and boat trains connecting with ferries and trains to continental Europe, where three travel classes on trains were still the norm and so continued to provide "first", "second" and "third" class accommodation, although the "third class" accommodation remained broadly equivalent to "second class" on other European trains. The three-tier class structure was abolished on most European railways by the end of the 1950s in favor of a two-tier structure