The railway network was opened between 1825 and 1899, built by over 140 private companies. This meant that even tiny villages might have 2 or even more stations, each owned by a different company. This redundancy was a major factor in the closure of stations from 1923 (when the companies were forced to amalgamate into 4 big companies by government, after a brief nationalisation during the war) to the 1980s.
The first major route opened since 1899 was HS1 from 2003-7. Again this was built privately (the Channel Tunnel Act 1987 forbidding any public subsidy to the Channel Tunnel).
The railway network was opened between 1825 and 1899, built by over 140 private companies. This meant that even tiny villages might have 2 or even more stations, each owned by a different company. This redundancy was a major factor in the closure of stations from 1923 (when the companies were forced to amalgamate into 4 big companies by government, after a brief nationalisation during the war) to the 1980s.
The first major route opened since 1899 was HS1 from 2003-7. Again this was built privately (the Channel Tunnel Act 1987 forbidding any public subsidy to the Channel Tunnel).