Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/55

 Annual reductions have been continuous, and that for 1962 was 25,896, but it has been possible to bring them about with less widespread disturbance than might be supposed because there is a high natural wastage of staff, and a total replacement rate of around 80,000 per year.

The extent to which the rate of reduction will be accelerated cannot be forecast with accuracy, because most of the changes will be of a continuing nature with no precisely foreseeable end point, and because the rate at which some changes can be made will depend upon external factors which are not under the control of the railways.

The effect of the closures of services, lines and stations which are firmly proposed can be assessed fairly closely, and is rather less than might be expected. This position arises because there has long been an awareness of the poverty of these parts of the system, and staff has already been brought down as far as possible, consistent with safety and the pattern of service still being given.

As a consequence, closures of lightly used parts of the system cause staff reductions which are far from proportional to the number of stations or the route mileage affected.

The distribution of 73,551 staff of one of the larger Regions, between stations, depots, yards and all other points of employment, is shown in the following table:―

Stations and depots Staff Cumulative figures Range Percent- Percent- [Number] age of Number | age of total " total Stations and depots Per cent Staff Per cent Up to 5 6-10 251 30-0 762 1.0 347 17-6 1,162 1.6 398 47.6 1,924 2.6 11-20 195 23:3 2,926 4.0 593 70.9 4,850 6-6 21-50 118 14-1 3,650 5.0 711 85.0 8,500 11.6 51-100 40 4-8 2,771 3.7 751 89.8 11,271 15.3 101-200 32 3-9 4,540 6.2 783 93.7 15,811 21-5 201-300 13 1-5 3,270 4.4 796 95.2 19.081 25-9 301-500 12 1.4 4,810 6.6 808 96.6 23.891 32.5 501-1,000 15 1.8 10,249 13-9 823 98.4 34,140 46-4 1,001-2,000 7 0.9 10,920 14-9 830 99.3 45,060 61.3 2,001-3,000 3,001-4,000 4,001-5,000 2 Over 5,000 2 NEEE 0.1 2,641 3.6 331 99.4 47,701 64.9 1 0.1 3,946 5.3 832 99.5 51,647 70-2 0-25 8,444 11-5 834 99.8 60,091 81-7 0-25 13,460 18-3 836 100.0 73,551 100.0

The best estimate that can be made of the number of staff whose services will no longer be required in connection with the operation of the passenger services listed in Appendix 2 is 16,200. They are, of course, spread over the country, and the number includes those affected by closures which were already in the process of being dealt with in August 1962, and which were suspended until this plan appeared.