Title: British Rail - Wikipedia
Headings: British Rail
British Rail
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British Railways
British Rail
Contents
History
Nationalisation in 1948
Regions
1955 Modernisation Plan
The Beeching reports
Post-Beeching
Branding
Pre-1960s
1960s
Post-1960s
Finances
Investment
Privatisation
Accidents and incidents
Network
Preserved lines
Marine services
Ships
Sealink
Hovercraft
British Rail Engineering Limited
Mark 2 carriages
Advanced Passenger Train
InterCity 125
Successor companies
Future
Parodies
See also
History
Divisions, brands and liveries
Classification and numbering schemes
Rolling stock
Other
References
Further reading
External links

Content: A government White Paper produced in 1956 stated that modernisation would help eliminate BR's financial deficit by 1962, but the figures in both this and the original plan were produced for political reasons and not based on detailed analysis. The aim was to increase speed, reliability, safety, and line capacity through a series of measures that would make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic lost to the roads. Important areas included: Electrification of principal main lines, in the Eastern Region, Kent, Birmingham to Liverpool/Manchester and Central Scotland
Large-scale dieselisation to replace steam locomotives
New passenger and freight rolling stock
Resignalling and track renewals
Modern marshalling yards
The closure of an unspecified, but relatively small, number of lines
The government appeared to endorse the 1955 programme (costing £1.2 billion), but did so largely for political reasons. This included the withdrawal of steam traction and its replacement by diesel (and some electric) locomotives. Not all the modernisations would be effective at reducing costs. The dieselisation programme gave contracts primarily to British suppliers, who had limited experience of diesel locomotive manufacture, and rushed commissioning based on an expectation of rapid electrification; this resulted in numbers of locomotives with poor designs, and a lack of standardisation. At the same time, containerised freight was being developed. The marshalling yard building programme was a fa