The line graph illustrates how many million tonnes of goods were transported by road, water, rail and pipeline in the UK from 1980 to 2008.
Overall, the largest amount of goods were tranported by road over the period given, whereas the least amount were delivered by pipeline. Furthermore, there was a growth in goods transport by pipeline while the other categories, that also experienced an increase, showed a more fluctuation pattern.
Regarding road transport, it started at 70 million tonnes in 1980. From this year it went up (75 in 1984, 83 in 1996 and 90 in 2004) and down (about 68 in 1988, 78 in 2000) over the period given, reaching a peak of 95 million tonnes in 2008. Water and rail showed a similar pattern. Water transport, starting at just under 40 million tonnes. Although it increased drammatically from 1984, reaching about 68 million tonnes in 1988, it remained approximately unchanged and, after a slight decrease in 2004 (around 55), rose to about 65 million tonnes in 2008. Rail transport remained at 40 million tonnes in the first four-year period, then it went down gently to 3 million tonnes in 1992, when the figure went up and down, ending at 42 in the last year.
In contrast, goods transported by pipeline had a slight growth throughout the perdiod given. In 1980 it started at about 5 million tonnes reaching 18 units in 1988. From this year the growth was more gentle, ending at just over 20 million tonnes in the final year.
