The Cheap Trains Act 1883 was an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

of the United Kingdom that marked the beginning of workers' train (and later, bus) services. It removed the passenger duty on any train charging less than a

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

(1d) a mile and obliged the railway companies to operate a larger number of cheap trains.Smith, D.N., (1988) ''The Railway and its Passengers: A Social History'' Newton Abbott: David and Charles

Origin

The

Railway Regulation Act 1844 The Railway Regulation Act 1844 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom providing a minimum standard for rail passenger travel. It provided compulsory services at a price affordable to poorer people to enable them to travel to find w ...

had established the provision of third-class coaches on what became known as "

parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...

s". This included the right of passengers in this class to take up to of luggage with them, so facilitating travel in search of work. In return, the railways were exempted from paying duty on these passengers. The duty was collected by the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

and gradually, as services improved, the board allowed more and more exemptions, even on trains which did not stop at all stations, as required by the Act. However, as the duty collected rose to around £500,000 in the 1860s, the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

took an interest. A test case in 1874 against the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fe ...

confirmed that trains must stop at all stations for the duty to be remitted. This duty had always been irksome to the railway operators, who felt that it hindered their development. The railway operators formed the Passenger Duty Repeal Association in 1874, followed in 1877 by another group, the Travelling Tax Abolition Committee. Between them they lobbied for the complete abolition of the duty. As is usual in these cases, the government would not agree without some ''

quid pro quo Quid pro quo ('what for what' in Latin) is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: "give and take", ...

''.

The Act

This period was one of extreme overcrowding in the major cities. It was a major political issue and one solution sought by the authorities was to encourage working people to move to new housing outside the cities. However, this implied the availability of cheap transport, for even a penny a mile was beyond most people's reach. The Act applied to all trains charging less than a penny a mile, even those that did not stop at all stations. The Board of Trade could decide whether a company's services were adequate and reasonably priced. If it felt otherwise, it could remove the company's exemption on all its services.

Its effect

Some railways in London were already operating workmen's trains, although they were often overcrowded and inconveniently timed. Although the Act was opposed by some railway officers, notably Sir

Edward Watkin Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his b ...

of the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

, the number of cheap suburban services increased greatly. During the 20th century, the appearance of competing road services meant that the railways were forced to reduce their fares. So few services eventually attracted duty, that it was abolished in the Finance Act 1929.

References

External links

Railways Archive: Cheap Trains Act
{{UK legislation 1883 in British law History of rail transport in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1883 Railway Acts 1883 in rail transport