Beeching Report

Official report, published in 1963, on the railway network of Britain, which recommended the closure of loss-making lines and the improvement of money-making routes. Hundreds of lines and several thousand stations were closed as a result.

These closures were not evenly spread throughout the country. Networks in East Anglia, south Wales, and the West Country fared worst, whereas the densely populated southeast retained more of its routes. Richard Beeching was chair of the British Railways Board 1963–65.