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Mind the Gap: Britain's Transport Divide

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Series exploring the disparity between transport systems in different areas of the UK.

Mind the Gap: Britain's Transport Divide: Rail

09/07/2018

Rail

BBC Radio 4 - Mind the Gap: Britain's Transport Divide, Rail

Second class service: how the nations and regions lost out to London in rail investment.

Second class service: How the nations and regions lost out to London and ended up with fewer services, older trains and an incoherent rail network... and why that matters.

Railways connect communities, towns, cities and regions with each other. The railway allows us to follow work, educational opportunities, families, follies and dreams and helps a country become more productive. The railways were invented in the north of England and their rapid growth underpinned the UK economy in the 19th century but it has been downhill ever since , except for one corner of the country. In the 60's thousands of miles of track and hundreds of stations closed following Dr Beeching's infamous report. The promised dividend of privatisation in the 1990's was not spread equally. Today, London has a comprehensive, relatively affordable, world class rail system; the rest of the country does not. Lynsey Hanley, non-driver and public transport user, goes on the rails to examine the gap between London, where tens of billions of pounds have been invested in the capitals rail infrastructure since the millennium and the rest of the country where it has not. She examines the pros and cons of HS2, nationalisation, Crossrail one and two and discovers that for most of us the 'Age of the Train' remains in the past. 

Presented by Lynsey Hanley. Produced by Kevin Mousley.

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Mind the Gap: Britain's Transport Divide

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