Transport Act 1962

Transport Act 1962

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for the re-organisation of the nationalised transport undertakings now carried on under the Transport Act, 1947, and for that purpose to provide for the establishment of public authorities as successors to the British Transport Commission, and for the transfer to them of undertakings, parts of undertakings, property, rights, obligations and liabilities; to repeal certain enactments relating to transport charges and facilities and to amend in other respects the law relating to transport, inland waterways, harbours and port facilities; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Citation	10 & 11 Eliz. 2. c. 46
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	1 August 1962
Commencement	September 1962
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Railway Regulation Act 1844 Railway (Sales and Leases) Act 1845 Abandonment of Railways Act 1850 Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854 Railway Companies Arbitration Act 1859 Railway Companies Securities Act 1866 Abandonment of Railways Act 1869 Railways (Private Sidings) Act 1904 Chairmen of Traffic Commissioners &c. (Tenure of Office) Act 1937 Transport (Borrowing Powers) Act 1955 Transport (Disposal of Road Haulage Property) Act 1956 Transport (Railway Finances) Act 1957 Transport (Borrowing Powers) Act 1959
Amended by	Transport Act 1962 (Amendment) Act 1981
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Transport Act 1962 (10 & 11 Eliz. 2. c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Described as the "most momentous piece of legislation in the field of railway law to have been enacted since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854",^[1] it was passed by Harold Macmillan's Conservative government to dissolve the British Transport Commission (BTC), which had been established by Clement Attlee's Labour government in 1947 to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport. The Act established the British Railways Board, which took over the BTC's railway responsibilities from 1 January 1963 until the passing of the Railways Act 1993.

The Act put in place measures that enabled the closure of around a third of British railways the following year as a result of the Beeching report, as the Act simplified the process of closing railways removing the need for pros and cons of each case to be heard in detail.