Changing conditions of transport and trade are at present having a marked effect on the railway industry. World trade, although now on the mend, is still in a generally depressed state, spelling lessened freight revenues; road transport is taking valuable business from the rails on both the passenger and freight sides; and such developments as the wholesale distribution of electric power from big central generating stations and the pipe line conveyance of petroleum call for serious attention from railways everywhere. The fact is that business conditions throughout the world are at present in a state of transition; and at the heart of this transition lies transportation progress.

As Sir Arthur Stanley remarked, some time ago (in his Presidential Address to the London Institute of Transport) railways, in consequence of improvements in road and air conveyance, have lost the virtual monopoly they once enjoyed, but there were many means by which they could regain their prosperity. The Home railways have wisely entered the field of road transport on the passenger side, while on the freight side they have improved their services by a general speeding-up and by the introduction of containers, introducing also a comprehensive system of road collection and delivery services.