Waterman steams to Beeching's defence

Pop legend and train enthusiast Pete Waterman today spoke up for the man all steam enthusiasts love to hate, Dr Beeching, who changed Britain's railways forever.

The Beeching Report was responsible for the decimation of the rail network in the 1960s, with the closure of thousands of stations and branch lines throughout the country. But Mr Waterman, now an owner of his own train company, says today's railways owe a huge to him and his controversial 1963 report The Re-Shaping of British Railways.

And, even more controversially, he suggests the closure of the Walsall to Wolverhampton service may be a sacrifice worth paying if services elsewhere improve.

The Saddlers fan, now chairman of the London & North Western Railway, will make his argument in a documentary called Down the Line, which will investigate the impact of the Beeching Report on the West Midlands.

The 61-year-old said today: "Beeching had the chance to invest serious money in big projects for the good of the nation.

"No one liked him but I thought it was time to tell the truth about what he did. His report was a necessity in order to prepare an ageing network for the modern age.

"The railways are so extensive and managing them isn't as easy as everyone thinks.

"It is a difficult subject to talk about without people's eyes glazing over, but trains are carrying more people than ever before.

"Also we have the highest number of trains arriving on time in the whole of Europe."

Among the changes made by Beeching were the total closure of Dudley Station and the decimation of services to Walsall. But Mr Waterman says changes still have to be made to ensure the railways and train stations are run efficiently.

"The roads are at standstill and in the film we challenge two girls to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham – one by tram and the other by road," he says.

"You don't have to be a genius to work out which one gets there first and yet the tram is still losing money.

"Walsall may seem to be losing out as the service to Wolverhampton is disappearing later this year, however this is about modernising the railways and making the services better."