ABSTRACT
Railway management has often taken the continuance of existing operations for granted, and has distinguished between replacement investment, often termed as 'essential renewal', and other investment. This chapter examines British Rails (BR's) investment programme for the period from the end of 1972 to the end of 1981. The most important single item of railway investment, accounting for a fifth of BR's planned investment between 1974 and 1978, is track renewal. Prolonging the life of track before renewal takes place could lead to very large savings in railway investment. The total cost of BR's proposed signalling investment is roughly £400 million, of which some £225 million would be incurred by the end of 1981. Investment in new coaches will depend primarily on the ages of those in the first group, since it is traffic carried in these coaches which accounts for the great bulk of revenue.
