The line chart illustrates the quantities of goods transported in the UK by four different modes of transport, namely road, water, rail and pipeline, between 1974 and 2002.
Overall, it highlights the main upward trend and key differences among the given data. It is clear that road transport remained the dominant mode throughout the period and showed a steady increase. In addition, pipeline transport recorded the lowest figures despite some growth at the beginning of the period.
Looking more closely at the figures, the amount of goods transported by road increased from about 70 million tonnes in 1974 to nearly 95 million tonnes in 2002. Similarly, water transport showed a considerable rise overall, climbing from around 38 million tonnes to approximately 65 million tonnes, although it experienced a slight decline in the late 1990s.
By contrast, rail transport fluctuated over the period. It started at around 40 million tonnes, dropped to about 30 million tonnes in the mid-1980s, and then recovered gradually to just over 40 million tonnes by 2002.
In terms of pipeline transport, the trend was rather different. The figure rose sharply from only 5 million tonnes in 1974 to around 25 million tonnes in 1982. After that, it remained relatively stable before declining slightly and leveling off at approximately 21 million tonnes in the final years.