Editing British Rail (section)

=== Post-Beeching ===
The basis for calculating passenger fares changed in 1964. In future, fares on some routes—such as rural, holiday and commuter services—would be set at a higher level than on other routes; previously, fares had been calculated using a simple rate for the distance travelled, which at the time was 3[[Penny#Name|d]] per mile second class, and 4½d per mile first class<ref>{{cite magazine |editor-first = B.W.C. |editor-last = Cooke |date = July 1964 |department = Notes and News |title = New fares structure |magazine = [[The Railway Magazine]] |volume = 110 |issue = 759 |page = 592 |publisher = Tothill Press |location = Westminster}}</ref> (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|{{#expr: 3 / 240}}|1964|r=2}}}} and £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|{{#expr: 4.5 / 240}}|1964|r=2}}}} respectively, in {{Inflation-year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}).

In 1966, a "[[racism in the United Kingdom|Whites only]]" recruitment policy for guards at [[Euston railway station|Euston station]] agreed between the local union branch and station management<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Davis |first1 = Rachael |title = Euston's first Black train guard who ended racial segregation on London's railway |url = https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/euston-station-black-train-guard-19910274 |website = MyLondon |date = 9 March 2022 |publisher = Reach plc |access-date = 3 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1 = Page |first1 = Chris |title = Resistance to change |url = https://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1722-Resistance-to-change |publisher = Railfuture Ltd |access-date = 3 April 2023}}</ref> was dropped after the case of [[Asquith Xavier]], a migrant from [[Dominica]], who had been refused promotion on those grounds, was raised in Parliament and taken up by the then Secretary of State for Transport, [[Barbara Castle]].<ref name="BBC-54272188">{{cite web |title = Asquith Xavier: Plaque honours train guard who fought Whites-only policy |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-54272188 |work = BBC News |access-date = 24 September 2020 |date = 24 September 2020}}</ref>

Passenger levels decreased steadily from 1962 to the late 1970s,<ref>The UK [https://web.archive.org/web/20041017235852/http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/divisionhomepage/031571.hcsp Department for Transport] (DfT), specifically Table 6.1 from [http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/downloadable/dft_transstats_613483.pdf Transport Statistics Great Britain 2006] {{webarchive |url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080908033415/http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/downloadable/dft_transstats_613483.pdf |date = 8 September 2008 }} (4&nbsp;MB PDF file)</ref> and reached a low in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/social-trends-rd/social-trends/social-trends-40/social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf |title = UK Government Web Archive |access-date = 13 August 2017 |archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105224526/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/social-trends-rd/social-trends/social-trends-40/social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf |archive-date = 5 January 2016 |url-status = bot: unknown  }}</ref> Network improvements included completing electrification of the [[Great Eastern Main Line]] from London to [[Norwich railway station|Norwich]] between 1976 and 1986 and the [[East Coast Main Line]] from London to [[Edinburgh Waverley railway station|Edinburgh]] between 1985 and 1990.<ref>{{cite book |last1 = Cowley |first1 = Ian |title = Anglia East |date = 1987 |publisher = David & Charles |location = Newton Abbot, UK |isbn = 0-7153-8978-5 |pages = 43–47}}</ref><ref name = "raileng elect18">{{cite news |last1 = Shirres |first1 = David |title = ECML: Electrification as it used to be |url = https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/11/27/ecml-electrification-as-it-used-to-be/ |work = Rail Engineer |publisher = Rail Media Group |place = Coalville |access-date = 10 January 2018 |archive-date = 11 January 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180111165146/https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/11/27/ecml-electrification-as-it-used-to-be/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> A mainline route closure during this period of relative network stability was the {{nowrap|1,500 V DC}}-electrified [[Woodhead line]] between [[Manchester Piccadilly railway station|Manchester]] and [[Sheffield Victoria railway station|Sheffield]]: passenger service ceased in 1970 and goods in 1981.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = Over the Woodhead in the cab of ''Tommy'' |first = Christopher |last = Nicholson |pages = 43–47 |magazine = The Railway Magazine |date = September 2014 |volume = 160 |issue = 1,362 |issn = 0033-8923}}</ref>

A further British Rail report from a committee chaired by [[David Serpell|Sir David Serpell]] was published in 1983. The [[Serpell Report]] made no recommendations as such but did set out various options for the network, including, at their most extreme, a skeletal system of less than 2,000{{nbsp}}route{{nbsp}}km (1,240{{nbsp}}miles). The report was received with hostility within several circles, which included figures within the government, as well as amongst the public.<ref name="GH">{{cite news |last1 = Rogers |first1 = Roy |title = Hostile reception for Serpell options |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19830121&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date = 15 February 2017 |work = The Glasgow Herald |date = 21 January 1983}}</ref> The reaction was so strong that [[Margaret Thatcher]], Prime Minister at that time, stated that decisions on the report would not immediately be taken. The Serpell report was quietly shelved, although the British Government was periodically accused by its opponents of implementing the report via stealth for some years thereafter.<ref name="GH20Jan1983p11">{{cite news |last1 = Rogers |first1 = Roy |title = Fresh ingredients that will be unpalatable to the rail industry |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19830120&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date = 10 July 2020 |work = The Glasgow Herald |date = 20 January 1983 |page = 11}}</ref><ref name="Telegraphobit">{{cite news |title = Sir David Serpell |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2512056/Sir-David-Serpell.html |access-date = 22 February 2017 |work = The Telegraph |date = 6 August 2008}}</ref><ref name="IndObit">{{cite news |last1 = Dalyell |first1 = Tam |title = Sir David Serpell: Able and influential civil servant |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-david-serpell-able-and-influential-civil-servant-888236.html |access-date = 6 November 2017 |work = The Independent |date = 7 August 2008}}</ref>

The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of some railways which had survived the Beeching cuts a generation earlier but which had seen passenger services withdrawn. This included the bulk of the [[Chester and Connah's Quay Railway]] in 1992, the [[Brierley Hill railway station|Brierley Hill]] to [[Walsall railway station|Walsall]] section of the [[South Staffordshire line]] in 1993, while the [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham]] to [[Wolverhampton Low Level railway station|Wolverhampton]] section of the Great Western Railway was closed in three phases between 1972 and 1992.