Railways Act 1921
Status: Amended | |
---|---|
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Revised text of statute as amended |
The Railways Act 1921 (
History
The British railway system had been built up by more than a hundred railway companies, large and small, and often, particularly locally, in competition with each other. The parallel railways of the East Midlands and the rivalry between the South Eastern Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Hastings were two examples of such local competition.
During the
The form of the Act was developed by former
Geddes' proposals became the 1920 white paper "Outline of Proposals as to the Future Organisation of Transport Undertakings in Great Britain and their Relation to the State" (Cmd. 787). This suggested the formation of six or seven regional companies; additionally it suggested worker participation on the board of directors of the company.[5][6] The white paper was opposed by the Railway Companies' Association (RCA) and MPs representing railway companies' interests. The move to greater worker participation was strongly opposed by the RCA, but supported by the Labour Party.[3] Worker-directors were not included in the final act, being replaced by agreed negotiating mechanisms.[6]
In 1921, the white paper "Memorandum on Railways Bill" (Cmd. 1292) suggested four English regional groups and two Scottish groups.[7]
Scottish railway companies wished to be incorporated into British groupings, and the RCA proposed five British regional monopolies including the Scottish businesses.[4]
After consideration of the Railways Bill, it was decided that the Scottish companies, originally destined to be a separate group, would be included with the Midland/North Western and Eastern groups respectively, in order that the three main Anglo-Scottish trunk routes should each be owned by one company for its full length: the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line by the former group, and the East Coast Main Line by the latter.[citation needed]
The act
The opening paragraph of the Railways Act 1921 states:
With a view to the reorganisation and more efficient and economical working of the railway system of Great Britain railways shall be formed into groups in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the principal railway companies in each group shall be amalgamated, and other companies absorbed in manner provided by this Act.
Part 1 of the act dealt with the terms and procedure of the amalgamations of railway companies. The constituents and subsidiaries of the four groups were set out in the first schedule of the act. Companies that had not formed an amalgamation scheme by 1923 would be amalgamated under terms decided by a tribunal.[1]
Part 2 dealt with powers and regulation of the railway companies by the Railway and Canal Commission, part 3 dealt with railway rates, charges and conditions of carriage with powers given to a Railway Rates Tribunal, and part 4 with employee wages and conditions.[1]
Parts 5 and 6 dealt with light railways and general clauses respectively, with the general clauses of part 6 including the requirement of the railway companies to provide the Minister of Transport with statistic and financial reports.[1]
The
The act took effect on 1 January 1923. On that date most of the mergers took place; some had taken place during the previous year. The February 1923 issue of The Railway Magazine dubbed the new companies as "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".
Lines outside the act
A number of joint railways remained outside the Big Four, continuing to be operated jointly by the successor companies. These included the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN), a London, Midland and Scottish Railway/London and North Eastern Railway joint line in eastern England, the largest of the joint railways in terms of route mileage; the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), LMS/LNER joint line in Lancashire and Cheshire, largest in terms of both passenger and freight traffic;[9] and the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), a joint LMS/SR line in south-western England.
The London suburban railway companies, such as the
Other exempted railways were
See also
- UK enterprise law
- List of railway companies involved in the 1923 Grouping
- UK labour law
- History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923–1947
- The four groups listed in the act, later known as the "Big Four" companies:
- The Southern Group, see Southern Railway (SR)
- The Western Group, see Great Western Railway (GWR)
- The North Western, Midland, and West Scottish Group, see London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)
- The North Eastern, Eastern, and East Scottish Group, see London and North Eastern Railway (LNER)
Notes
- ^ a b c d Railways Act 1921, HMSO, 19 August 1921
- ^ Wolmar, Christian (2007). Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain. London: Atlantic. pp. 231–232.
- ^ ISBN 0719023459
- ^ ISBN 0-275-97601-7
- ^ E McGaughey, 'Votes at Work in Britain: Shareholder Monopolisation and the ‘Single Channel’ (2018) 47(1) Industrial Law Journal 76
- ^ ISBN 1-84113-015-X
- ^ Railway Economics, Taylor and Francis, p. 113
- ^ "August : The Railways Act, 1921", The Engineer, 132: 231, 2 September 1921
- ISBN 0-7110-2521-5.
- ^ Daniels, P.W.; Warnes, A.M., Movement in Cities, Routledge, pp. 233–5
References
- Brodie, Douglas (2003), A History of British Labour Law, 1867-1945, Hart Publishing, ISBN 1-84113-015-X
- E McGaughey, 'Votes at Work in Britain: Shareholder Monopolisation and the ‘Single Channel’ (2018) 47(1) Industrial Law Journal 76
External links
- Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History (University of York) (February 2003), "The Railways Act and the Grouping, 1920-1923", IRS&TH: Railway Readings, www.york.ac.uk, retrospective on Railway Gazette articles relating to the grouping
- "The State And The Railways". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 3 August 1920. col. 711–713. Archived from the original on 19 July 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)