ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with a view to helping decision-making on infrastructures and transport policies. It focuses on the history of transport, particularly freight transport, in Great Britain and Switzerland respectively, with elements of general economics, technology, politics and transport policies. The book describes the existing British data on freight transport and displays it graphically with a view to revealing general trends and structural breaks in the chronology. It analyses British environmental data, particularly data on air pollution. The book examines to comparing in tandem the history, freight statistics and environmental impacts in Great Britain and Switzerland. It offers general conclusions on freight transport history and perspectives in Switzerland and Great Britain. The dynamics of freight transport in Switzerland are very complex, being part of larger economic and social, as well as national and international systems.
