00:21Britain is on the road to a transport revolution.
00:24A long drive in which planners dreams turn into concrete
00:27on such spectacular new routes as this M6 motorway viaduct
00:31spanning road, river, rail and canal at Gathurst in Lancashire.
00:36And this in the south, where two miles of columns like these
00:40will carry the M4 over part of the Great West Road to London Airport
00:43and speed journeys for air travellers as well as road users.
00:47Compared with the rest of Europe, we are late starters.
00:50But Britain today has a thousand miles of motorways either built or planned.
00:54Part of a £100 million a year programme needed to keep up with a hurrying world
00:58for a growing population that's both busier and better off.
01:02By 1970, it's likely that the cars on Britain's roads will have doubled to some 13 million.
01:08And by 1980, they'll be between 16 and 18 million.
01:12For years Britain has been handicapped by a road system geared to a bygone age.
01:22With traffic jammed at times to a standstill on roads that were never made to take so many family cars.
01:27A system where half the traffic has been carried on 6% of the roads.
01:31Where awkward loads like this were never bargained for.
01:34A system completely inadequate for a nation which must live by trade with the rest of the world.
01:40And by 1980, our roads will have to take twice as many goods as are sent today.
01:44And our ports, out of date.
01:47For the first time this century, they've now been examined to see what's needed to make them efficient.
01:52On the railways, the same story.
02:04An archaic system laid down by cheap labour in the age of Victoria.
02:08Forming what's been called the most extravagant railway system in the world.
02:12But now, modernisation.
02:15And efficient new marshalling yards like this at Carlisle.
02:18One of the most advanced in Europe.
02:20Setting the railways on the right lines means a revolution in itself.
02:25In London alone, there are 12 mainline stations against two in a comparable city, New York.
02:31On the other hand, the southern region of British Railways alone carries more passengers than all the major railways of America and Canada put together.
02:39And they nearly all want to travel at the same time.
02:42Three quarters of them travel in three peak hours and one quarter in the rest of each day.
02:47Ninety-five percent of the national traffic has been carried on half the network.
02:51And some fifteen hundred stations have been taking only one percent of the railway's income.
02:56Under the beaching plan for hauling the railways into modern times, the idea is to stop losing money on services that aren't used.
03:08And to concentrate on those that are needed.
03:10Today, a better deal for those who pay the fares.
03:13A faster, smoother ride with the emphasis on passenger comfort.
03:18This is the Midland Pullman, one of the expresses that is helping to give the railways their new image.
03:27It's powered by two 1,000 horsepower engines and does the London to Manchester run through Derbyshire in three hours, ten minutes.
03:33It's a train with services like those of a top hotel catering for the international businessman as well as the ordinary passenger.
03:59You can even wine and dine on credit.
04:02And instead of having to peer out of the windows to know where you are, the conductor tells you over the loudspeaker.
04:08On many routes, the new diesels save ten to fifteen minutes in the hour.
04:11And more and more passengers are getting used to the idea of comfort in air-conditioned carriages with adjustable seats, double glazed windows and even Venetian blinds.
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