Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/33

 Over a period of years the total production of coal has declined and, until recently, the proportion carried by rail has also fallen. The trends are shown in Figure No. 4.

The growth of road transport has been responsible for the decline in the railways' share of the traffic, and in 1961 the total tonnage forwarded by the National Coal Board was spread over the main forms of transport as shown below:—

Million tons Rail Road 133 39 Private line Canal 9 3 Other TOTAL 189

Twenty-two million tons carried by rail, private line and canal to shipping points was subsequently carried by coastwise vessels.

The volume and geographical distribution of coal flows by sea and road. during 1960 is shown in Map No. 6.

Trends in the pattern of consumption of coal also affect the transport problem, and figures below show how the pattern has changed between 1956 and 1961 and how it is likely to change over the next five years.

1956 1961 1966 Electricity generation 46-3 55-4 75-5 Towns gas 1 4 28.1 22.5 16+5 Iron and steel and coke ovens 36.3 31-2 30 Other industrial 34-2 26-31 23-5° Household coaland naturally smokeless fuels 32-9106.8 28-9-82.7 All other 39-7 27-5 27 20.5 -71 217.5 191-8 193 Export and bunkers TOTAL 9.7 5-7 7. 227.2 197-5 200

The Coal Board expect to increase their output to 200 m. tons by 1966, and to sustain that level thereafter. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen, but it is almost certain that the change of pattern within the total will continue and that a greater proportion will go to power stations.

Because power stations and other large industrial users are normally located as close to coal fields as other considerations permit, most of the tonnage which they consume moves over relatively short distances. Therefore, the growth of the Central Electricity Generating Board's demand, accompanied by a decline in demand for household coal and coal for many other small consumers, will lead to a reduction in ton-mileage of coal traffic, even if the total output stays around the 200 m. tons level. For that reason, although the railways' share of the total tonnage is likely to increase to some extent, the ton-mileage and gross