Talk:Transport in the United Kingdom

Cleanup/expansion
I chose to mark this cleanup. Perhaps there are some general sections which could be written, eg on the governments role, but much of it can just be links to other articles. Oliver Chettle 13:04, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Airports
'Internal flights are uncommon but not unknown'

I think this underplays internal air transport in the UK. Anyone else think this?--KharBevNor 29 June 2005 16:35 (UTC)


 * yes, that struck me too - how about 'Internal flights are less common than international travel, but are becoming increasingly popular.' --Mark Lewis 29 June 2005 17:58 (UTC)


 * Definitely. Flights between Scotland and the South of England and to and from Northern Ireland in particular are getting increasingly popular. Maybe we could mention companies like Easyjet in passing? --KharBevNor 29 June 2005 18:36 (UTC)

As Edinburgh Airport is the busiest airport in Scotland and not Glasgow International, I have updated this accordingly. I had updated this previously but note this has reverted back to saying Glasgow Airport is the busiest in Scotland. This is not true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.19.212 (talk) 17:09, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Railways
The phrase "The rail network in the United Kingdom consists of two independent and unconnected parts" confuses me. Does it mean independant in the geographical sense, or in the management sense. If the former, what about the Isle of Wight?
 * I wrote it quite quickly to get some information there, based on what was written at Rail transport in the United Kingdom - by all means correct and improve it as you see fit! -- Joolz 2 July 2005 01:30 (UTC)

I think it refers to the fact that Northern Ireland Railways are separate from those of the British mainland. G-Man 2 July 2005 18:36 (UTC)

You've used the word "separate" which doesn't address my question, do you mean geographically separate or separate in a mangement sense? I suspect the former, in which case the IOW should be listed since it is also geographically separate.

Additional data and freight
This seems to me a useful starting article, but a few extras might help: – we probably ought to say a bit about transport trends (so rail was once dominant but car / lorry now are) and give some idea of proprtion of journeys made by particular modes of transport - a lot more needs to be said about freight - there's no mention of road freight, and little of rail freight

Would appreciate your comments. I shall find some data to add - I think there is some at DfT website. --Alistairkent 3 July 2005 20:00 (UTC)

How long are the railways?
The DfT website suggests that the National Rail network (i.e. excluding parts not operated by Network Rail, e.g. LUL, DLR) has 15,042 route kilometres open for passenger traffic, and 1,610 route kilometres for freight traffic only (making a total of 16,652 route km). This is the GB total - Northern Ireland is not included.

But, as at the end of the year 2004-05 the SRA's website states that the number of route kilometres open for passenger traffic in GB is a mere 14,328, with an additional 1,788 route km open for freight. It seems that the SRA has reclassified some routes since the previous year, as its figures for 2003-04 are much closer to those of the DfT - being just 169 km less for passenger route km, and identical for freight route km.

See DfT GB Transport Statistics section 6.5 (PDF)

also SRA National Rail Trends Section 6.5 (PDF)

Do others have any views / preference which to use?

My personal view is that - for national rail - we should use the SRA's figures.

You are welcome to disagree though!

--Alistairkent 4 July 2005 20:00 (UTC)

Ferry connections?
Could someone add something about the ferries that go to the UK please?--Hhielscher 19:13, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Transport Trends
At the moment, this talks about the share of transport the different modes of transport account for. Nothing is said about the enormous growth in passenger transport in the recent past --- though growth in freight is discussed. It might be worth dividing the section into freight and passenger sections. And a nice graph would make everything much easier to take in.Omicron18 08:03, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

http://www.dtistats.net/energystats/ecuk2_2.xls is quite good. It suggests that total passenger travel inside the UK has risen from 403 bn passenger kms in 1970 to 797 in 2004. Omicron18 09:24, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Project proposal
I prose a Waterways of the United Kingdom project (along the lines of the UK Railways Project). Please add your support at WikiProject Council/Proposals. Andy Mabbett 14:16, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Now started; see banner, above. Andy Mabbett 11:19, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Major transport company
Which would count as a major transport company and which as a minor? Simply south 15:34, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Cycling
Maybe a bit more information could be added on the (weak) promotion of transportation cycling in the UK in recent years; the London cycle hire, the "Cycle Superhighways," and individual councils promoting cycling through (hollow) initiatives such as advertising, despite the lack of any real usable infrastructure. 130.88.91.95 (talk) 12:46, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Channel 4 modified this entry to foil cheating in live quiz show
At 20:46 tonight, an anonymous IP modified the length of the National Railway network from 10,000 miles down to 1000 miles.

Minutes later, a live Channel 4 quiz show with Davina McCall asked 2 contestants which was shorter, the rail network or the motorway network in the UK - he wanted motorway, she wanted the railway network to be shorter.

Watching the show, I guessed correctly but came here to check anyway - and found that the entry in the lead was wrong, it didn't match the entry in the body of the article. I've corrected it. MalcolmMcDonald (talk) 21:09, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Air transport
I noticed two items in the air transport section that should (in my opinion be reviewed and possibly edited.)

It is stated "Easyjet is the largest airline," I believe this should be modified, stating that "British Airways, as the flag carrier of the United Kingdom is the largest airline as it has the largest fleet (statistic could be proven). This would improve accuracy and avoid confusion.

It also mentions: "other airlines include:" Ryanair is included in the subsequent list, wrongly as it is an airline of the Republic of Ireland. I believe Ryanair should be removed (from the list) and I also think this confusion should be noted, due to the size of Ryanair's UK operations.

I would like feedback before making any changes.-Maybe my first point could be worded better. ThanksBen.710 (talk) 19:53, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

Tyne and Wear Metro
It needs to be pointed out this article is incorrect in calling the Tyne and Wear Metro "rapid transit" – it's light rail, as even the UK's Department of Transport categorizes as – e.g.: Light Rail and Tram Statistics: England 2013/14. (Meanwhile, Docklands Light Railway and Glasgow Subway are really more light metro than "metro", but that's a more minor distinction...) But the Tyne and Wear Metro, despite it's name, doesn't actually qualify as a true "rapid transit" (or "metro") system, as it has at-grade crossings and track-sharing. Thus it's "light rail". --IJBall (talk) 02:33, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
 * More evidence: The Light Rail Transit Association (based in the UK) categorizes the Tyne and Wear Metro as "light rail": here. And UITP does not count Tyne & Wear among the world's "metro" (i.e. "rapid transit") systems here (see map). With Tyne and Wear Metro's several at-grade intersections, and track-sharing with other rail, it really does not qualify as "rapid transit". I will likely be changing this article's text shortly to reflect all of this... --IJBall (talk) 19:39, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Major Roads
This needs updating but I am not sure what source the editor used. From what I can find, there are currently only 31k miles of major roads (and this has only slightly increased over the past ten years). Possibly the previous editor included B roads as major roads as this would take it up to 50k but I am not sure. Really we need to find a source for the previous data so we can compare. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428857/road-lengths-in-great-britain-2014.pdf Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 21:46, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

Disprotionate Number of Rail Transport Images
At the time of this entry there appears to be a disproportionate number of images of rail transport compared to other forms of transport in this article ... Approx 10 rail to 3 road to 1 air and 1 maritime. Djm-leighpark (talk) 21:46, 4 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I agree, but possibly this is because there seems to be a disproportionate number of rail pictures in general - far more trainspotters than carspotters! Could you suggest some pictures of roads that you think could replace some of the rail pictures? Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 08:40, 5 May 2017 (UTC)