Steel is heavy, and therefore intrinsically suited to movement by rail. Steel also lends itself to specialised terminals, usually involving heavy lifting equipment. As with rail freight in general, the trend in recent decades has been towards fewer but heavier trains serving a smaller number of locations. The significant losses of recent decades have been brought about by two main factors: firstly the closure of many steel plants in the UK and secondly the withdrawal of the wagonioad freight network.
The 1970s were a decade of growth for rail-borne steel traffic, largely as a consequence of the Iron & Steel Act that was passed in 1967. This act brought the UK’s
