Reigniting the Railway Conversion Debate

Abstract:     
The economic functions of railways could be carried out by express coaches and lorries at one-quarter the cost of the train, using 20-25% less fuel, requiring one-quarter to one-third of the land and imposing a casualty cost on passengers half that suffered by rail passengers. The railway conversion debate was initiated in the 1950s by the late Brigadier Lloyd and carried forward by the Railway Conversion League, subsequently renamed the Railway Conversion Campaign, until the death of its chairman, Angus Dalgleish, in 1994. The purpose of this paper is to reignite that debate. The government should remove all impediments to the conversion of railways to roads.

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