Editing British Rail (section)

=== 1955 Modernisation Plan ===
{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994#The Modernisation Plan}}
[[File:Bristol Pullman (8226781197).jpg|thumb|[[Blue Pullmans|Blue Pullman]] at [[Bristol Bath Road TMD]]]]
The report, latterly known as the "Modernisation Plan",<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=23 |title = Modernisation and Re-Equipment of British Rail |author = British Transport Commission |via = The Railways Archive |publisher = British Transport Commission |year = 1954 |access-date = 25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061031102337/http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=23 |archive-date = 31 October 2006 |url-status = live  }}</ref> was published in January 1955. It was intended to bring the railway system into the 20th century. 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.<ref name="last trains">{{cite book |last = Loft |first = Charles |year = 2013 |title = Last Trains – Dr Beeching and the Death of Rural England |publisher = Biteback |isbn = 9781849545006}}</ref> 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:
* [[Railway electrification system|Electrification]] of principal main lines, in the [[Eastern Region of British Railways|Eastern Region]], [[Kent]], Birmingham to Liverpool/Manchester and Central [[Scotland]]
* Large-scale [[dieselisation]] to replace [[steam locomotives of British Railways|steam locomotives]]
* New passenger and freight [[rolling stock]]
* [[Railway signalling|Resignalling]] and track renewals
* Modern [[marshalling yard]]s
* The closure of an unspecified but relatively small number of lines

The government appeared to endorse the 1955 programme (costing £1.2&nbsp;billion), but did so largely for political reasons.<ref name="last trains" /> This included the withdrawal of steam traction and its replacement by diesel (and some electric) locomotives. Not all 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.<ref name="b4873">{{cite book |title = British Railways, 1948–73: a business history |first=Terence Richard |last = Gourvish |author2 = N. Blake |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1986 |pages = 286–290}}</ref> At the same time, [[Containerization|containerised]] freight was being developed.<ref name="b4873" /> The marshalling yard building programme was a failure, being based on a belief in the continued viability of [[wagon-load]] traffic in the face of increasingly effective road competition, and lacking effective forward planning or realistic assessments of future freight.<ref name="b4873" /> A 2002 documentary broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] blamed the 1950s decisions for the "beleaguered" condition of the railway system at that time.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1989357.stm |title = Bad railways? Blame it on the 1950s |date = 16 May 2002 |work = BBC News |access-date = 25 September 2018 |language = en-GB |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180652/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1989357.stm |archive-date = 25 September 2018 |url-status = live}}</ref>