1961: DR BEECHING and the State of BRITISH RAIL | Panorama | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Panorama's Robert Kee asks commuters about the current state of the railways. He interviews Dr Richard Beeching, the new Chairman of British Railways, who speaks for the first time since taking office.

Beeching has already found himself at the centre of controversy, due to his £24,000 a year salary - more than double the salary of a comparable role in any other nationalised industry, and £14,000 a year higher than his predecessor, Sir Brian Robertson.

Does he believe that the railway network should be a purely commercial undertaking? Is he planning to raise the fares? What does he make of rail users who already complain that fares are too high? Does Beeching believe there is any merit in nationalisation? Is his role to undertake a radical overhaul of the entire British railway system, or has that overhaul already begun?

Clip taken from Panorama, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Monday 12 June, 1961.

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