The Railway Regulation Act 1844 ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85) was an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

providing a minimum standard for rail passenger travel. It provided compulsory services at a price affordable to poorer people to enable them to travel to find work. It is one of the Railway Regulation Acts 1840 to 1893.

The prior situation

Until that time there were three or more classes of carriage, third class usually an open

goods wagon Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types ...

, often without seats, sometimes referred to sarcastically as " Stanhopes", a corruption of "Stand-ups". During that year, a select committee had produced six reports on the railways, at the behest of the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

under its president, W. E. Gladstone. These led to ''An Act to attach certain Conditions to the construction of future Railways authorised by any Act of the present or succeeding sessions of Parliament; and for other Purposes in relation to Railways,'' referred to as "Gladstone's Act". The original bill introduced into Parliament by W. E. Gladstone had been far-reaching for its time - even proposing state ownership of the railways and

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

The act stated: * One train with provision for carrying third-class passengers, should run on every line, every week day, in each direction, stopping at every station. (These are what were originally known as "

parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...

s.") * The fare should be 1d. per mile. * Its average speed should not be less than . * Third-class passengers should be protected from the weather and be provided with seats. In return the railway operator was exempted from duty on third class passengers. The price was not cheap for working people. An additional requirement was that they should be allowed to carry of luggage free. It helped those in search of work thus, as Smith points out, its benefit was to improve labour supply.

Rail company reaction

The reaction of many railway companies was grudging acceptance of the letter, if not the spirit of the legislation, and they provided the minimum one train per day with facilities for third class passengers at an unpopular time such as early morning or late at night. These were the original

s. The reason for the reluctance was to avoid losing revenue if passengers who could afford to travel second class switched to third if facilities there became bearable. Some companies continued to run inferior third or fourth class trains in addition to the minimum standard parliamentary train. The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

broke ranks by providing three compartments, with glazed windows and an oil lamp in the roof, causing resentment among competitors. Finally in 1875 the standard of third class was upgraded and second class was abolished – by relabelling the coaches. It caused scandal now difficult to imagine. In the 1800s there was rigid distinction between social classes and the belief was that the railway would bring "the 'lower orders' nearer to equality with their 'betters' " Sir James Allport, general manager of the Midland Railway, in a speech said: Other railways followed, and because they were obliged to provide third class, the oddity of first and third, but no second – except on boat trains – persisted into the 20th century, when third class was rebranded to second class in 1956, and then further rebranded as 'standard' to remove negative associations.

Legacy

The whole act was repealed by section 95 of, and the twelfth schedule to, the Transport Act 1962 ( 10 & 11 Eliz. 2. c. 46). The Transport Act 1962 (Commencement No. 1) Order 1962 (SI 1962/1788) provided that this would come into force on 1 September 1962.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Railways Archive: An Act to attach certain Conditions to the Construction of future Railways 1844
{{Authority control History of rail transport in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1844 Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament Railway Acts 1844 in rail transport Transport policy in the United Kingdom