Transport Ministries: Railways and Inland Waterways (RA, RB, RC, RYC and RFR Series)...

MT 124

1922-1995

This series contains papers of the three railway divisions of the Railways and Inland Waterways Division of the Transport ministries, covering all aspects of the work of the British Railways Board; questions of railway closure and uneconomic services; general railway matters, including capital investment, such as railway electrification; ferries, light railways, transport in London and relations with international organizations; draft legislation and consultation over the 1961-1962 Transport Bill, and later implementation of the Transport Act 1962; the inquiry into the railway accident at a level crossing in Hixon; and the Channel Tunnel.

Also included are papers of the Transport Users Consultative Committees, the Interdepartmental Working Party on the Beeching Plan, and the (Serpell) committee on the review of railway finances.

Some material on canals and inland waterways is also included.

Some files of the LP series (otherwise in MT 135) have been re-registered in the RA and RC series.

RA, RB, RC , RYC and RFR

Public Record(s)

English

• Department of the Environment, Nationalised Transport Division A, 1970-1976
• Department of Transport, 1976-1997
• Department of Transport, Transport Industries Division, 1978-1985
• Ministry of Shipping, Directorate of Shipping in Port, 1939-1941
• Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Docks and Canal Division, 1953-1954
• Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Ports and Inland Waterways Division, 1954-1955
• Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Railways and Inland Waterways Division, 1955-1959
• Ministry of Transport, Docks and Canal Division, 1934-1941
• Ministry of Transport, Docks and Canal Division, 1946-1953
• Ministry of Transport, Nationalised Transport Division A, 1962-1970
• Ministry of Transport, Nationalised Transport Division B, 1962-1970
• Ministry of Transport, Ports and Transit Division, 1938-1941
• Ministry of Transport, Railways and Inland Waterways Division, 1959-1962
• Ministry of Transport, Waterways and Railways General Division, 1962-1962
• Ministry of War Transport, Port and Transit Control, 1941-1946

2022 file(s)

Open unless otherwise stated

From 1985 Department of Transport

Topics

Railways

Transport management

Banking

Series is accruing.

The Railways and Inland Waterways Division was formed in 1955 with the transfer of responsibility for inland waterways, previously exercised by the Ports and Inland Waterways Division, to the Railway Division. In 1961 the Division was split into four; a Railways Division A responsible for all matters relating to the British Railways Board; a Railways Division B responsible for questions of railway closure and uneconomic services; a Railways Division C responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Government's proposals for the reorganisation of the structure of the nationalised transport boards controlled by the British Transport Commission, including all work on the Transport Act 1962; and a Rivers and Canals Division responsible for inland waterways.

In 1963 following the abolition of the British Transport Commission by the Transport Act the work of Railways C was absorbed by Nationalised Transport A and the work of Rivers and Canals Division was absorbed by Nationalised Transport B Division, which had responsibility for the newly created British Waterways Board.

By 1976 there were again three Railways divisions, A, B and C. In 1982 a committee to review railway finances over the next twenty years was appointed.