Railways and Roads

Railways and roads are critical infrastructures in the international trade network since countries must have efficient means to transport goods from ports and airports to their destinations. The United States developed the interstate system in the 1950s, which created a vast network of highways that allowed for the much more efficient transporting of goods and people. Read this page, which discusses how railways developed in the United Kingdom in the 1830s and how that influenced the development of industry and transportation.

Railways

The development of the railways, starting in the 1830s, transformed the economy and society by creating powerful railway companies, attracting massive investments, advancing industries, transforming human migration patterns, and even changing people's daily diet.


LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Describe how railways spread and became common across the globe


KEY POINTS

  • The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) in 1830, the first to rely exclusively on steam power, revolutionized transportation and paved the way for the development of railways that would soon take over the world. A number of lines were approved in the Leeds area the same year. An unexpected enthusiasm for passenger travel resulted in opening the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) and the Grand Junction, linking the existing L&MR and the new L&BR in 1837.
  • A new railway always needed an Act of Parliament, which typically cost over £200,000 to obtain, but opposition could effectively prevent its construction. The canal companies, unable or unwilling to upgrade their facilities to compete with railways, used political power to try to stop them. The railways responded by purchasing about a fourth of the canal system, in part to get the right of way and in part to buy off critics. Once an Act was obtained, there was little government regulation, as laissez faire and private ownership had become accepted practices.
  • The railways largely had exclusive territory, but given the compact size of Britain, this meant that two or more competing lines could connect major cities. Between the-mid 1830s and the mid-1940s, Parliament authorized 8,000 miles of lines at a projected cost of £200 million. The incredible profitability of the railways attracted many investors together with massive financial speculation known as the Railway Mania.
  • The financial success of the early railways was phenomenal, as they had no real competition. 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. Towards the end of the 19th century, competition became so fierce between companies on the east and west coast routes to Scotland that it led to what the press called the Race to the North.
  • The railways changed British society in numerous and complex ways, including a substantial impact in many spheres of economic activity. The building of railways and locomotives provided a significant stimulus to the coal-mining, iron-production, engineering, and construction industries. The railways also helped to reduce transaction costs, which in turn lowered the costs of goods, bringing positive changes to people's diet. The railways were also a significant force for the changing patterns of human mobility.
  • The Government began to pay attention to safety matters with the 1840 Act for Regulating Railways, which empowered the Board of Trade to appoint railway inspectors. The Railway Inspectorate was established in 1840 to inquire into the causes of accidents and recommend ways of avoiding them. In 1844, minimum standards that would require railway companies to offer services to the poorer passengers on each railway roue at least once a day were introduced.


KEY TERMS

Liverpool and Manchester Railway
A railway that opened in 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in the United Kingdom. It was the first railway to rely exclusively on steam power, with no horse-drawn traffic permitted at any time; the first to be entirely double-track throughout its length; the first to have a signaling system; the first to be fully timetabled; the first to be powered entirely by its own motive power; and the first to carry mail.
Parliamentary carriages
Passenger services required by an Act of Parliament passed in 1844 to allow inexpensive and basic railway travel for less affluent passengers. The legislation required that at least one such service per day be run on every railway route in the United Kingdom.
Race to the North
Name given by the press to the phenomenon that occurred during two summers of the late 19th century, when British passenger trains belonging to different companies would literally race each other from London to Scotland over the two principal rail trunk routes connecting the English capital city to Scotland: the West Coast Main Line and the East Coast Main Line.
Railway Mania
Speculative frenzy in Britain in the 1840s caused by the phenomenal profitability of the early railways.
Railway Clearing House
An organization set up in 1842 to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre-grouping railway companies of fares and charges paid for passengers and goods travelling over the lines of other companies.

Source: Boundless, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/railways/
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