Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/68

 The distribution of traffic between the least used and most used parts of the system is also illustrated by Figure No. 1.

Figure 1 Cumulative Distribution of Passenger, Freight and combined Passenger and Freight Traffic over Route Miles

It will be seen that one-third of the route mileage carries only 1 per cent. of the total passenger miles. Similarly, one-third of the mileage carries only I per cent. of the total freight ton miles, and the corresponding figures for the least used half are 4 per cent. and 5 per cent. of passengers and freight respectively. It will also be seen that one-third of the route mileage carries only 24 per cent. of the total passenger and freight traffic, combined by adding passenger miles and ton miles as equal units, and half the route mileage carries only 7 per cent. of the total traffic.

Maps Nos. 1 and 2 show the distribution of passenger and freight traffic density over the railway route system. The volume passing in a normal week is indicated either by broken lines of different types or by continuous lines indicating density by their thickness.

There is a striking disparity between the heavily loaded and extremely lightly loaded lines shown on the maps.