{Railways into Busways [continued]}[3rd March 1976]

[Redbook2:83A-B][19760303:0000d]{Railways into Busways [continued]}[3rd March 1976]

1976.03.03

[continued]

But it is arguable that, for the 'long-term' future, even automation does not go far enough: that, to return again to the implied basis of the Reading study, the crucial asset of the B[ritish] R[ail] system is not the train, nor even the steel wheel on the steel rail, but the physical trackbed structures and routes along which it operated. (Oddly enough, this is the aspect of the system which has significantly suffered – a two-thirds reduction – during this century). It should be added that this (perhaps inadvertent) assumption of the Reading study is negated by an apparent failure to allow for the potential advantages of the steel wheel on steel rail system: such as its strength and speed; its physical guidance; its suitability for remote power supply and control, and for automation; and of course its capacity for running potentially economic trainloads.

[continues]

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