Unification enables each part of the country to have as good a service of trains as every other part, notwithstanding differences of population and resources. The Companies now operating on the South Coast cannot provide so good a service as the Northern Companies owing to the lack of the great mining and industrial centres which are served by the latter.
One of the most conspicuous examples of this is Ireland. A Royal Commission was sitting for many years on the question of Irish railways, and ultimately reported in favour of State acquisition. Even this, it is clear, would not entirely solve the difficulty, which arises from the natural causes of being an island with (compared to the rest of Great Britain) a small population, mostly agricultural. If, however, the Irish railways were amalgamated with all the others of the United Kingdom under the proposed scheme the problem is solved. In the estimate given in considering the finance of the scheme the Irish railways are included.
The conversion of the railway system into Government property will, apart from the question of economy already referred to, provide a most important advantage to the State. For example, the War Office can make use of the railway system, not only for the purposes of transport, but for the erection on surplus land throughout the country of barracks, stores, and other buildings, for wireless telegraph stations and for aviation purposes. The Admiralty will have the use of the great docks and wharves now owned by railways. The Civil Service will also find ample space for additional office accommodation, often in the most convenient spots both in town and country.
Still more important even than these advantages is the fact that by the removal of all money restrictions from transport, not only an immediate but a progressive increase of traffic will result. That this will be so is shown hereafter when considering the question of the finance of the scheme, but it is referred to here as one of the most important advantages of the scheme, apart from the benefits to the nation already referred to of free circulation of passengers and goods.
In the first place, the increase of traffic will require in all probability the whole of the staff now employed, who would otherwise be thrown out of employment by reason of the economies referred to above. It will be noticed that in the estimates given under the heading of “Finance of the Scheme” no decrease, but on the contrary, a slight increase has been estimated for in the working expenses, notwithstanding the enormous saving to be anticipated by the abolition and reduction of wasteful expenditure under the present system. My reason for so doing is partly to err on the side of caution in the estimates, but also to provide for the probability of having to retain the whole of the existing staff, and possibly increasing their wages and reducing their hours of labour. Most of the economies referred to must necessarily be effected gradually; for instance, the clerical staffs of the various railway companies and of the Railway Clearing House would be required for some considerable time in the process of winding-up, and by the time this is finished the traffic will have still further increased and their work will then be required in the more necessary departments of, say, the Goods Clearing Houses throughout the country.
Secondly, the progressive increase of traffic will produce a corresponding increase of revenue which will be available for extensions and additions, for electrification of lines, and other improvements in means of transport, and ultimately even in still further reduction in charges, but last and by no means least in the adoption of appliances and inventions for the safety of life and limb both of passengers and railway servants.
Unlike the present companies, the Government will have no difficulty in raising the capital required for any such purposes, and in relying upon the inevitable increase of traffic, as now is the case of the Post Office, for repayment.
Take the case of automatic couplings. These were invented 40 years ago[4] and their adoption has been urged on the companies ever since, not only on the merciful ground of saving life and limb, but also on the financial ground of saving waste of time in shunting; but the initial expense of fitting these to every truck and carriage has been too much for the directors of the Companies to risk.
Many inventions for automatic signalling, instantaneous brakes, and other life-saving appliances have been from time to time submitted to railway companies, but the initial expense of installation throughout the many miles of railway of each company has been so great that one hardly wonders at the hesitation of directors in laying out money belonging to the shareholders, especially when, notwithstanding a small normal increase of traffic, the working expenses have increased to a greater degree.