The line graph above indicates the amount of goods transported in the United Kingdom from 1974 to 2002 by road, water, rail, and pipeline.
Overall, there was an upward trend in the road, water, and pipeline transportation, while the rail mode remained stable. The amount of products transported by road was consistently the highest throughout the analyzed timeframe.
Initially, the figure for products transported through the pipeline was the lowest among the 4 modes, with a starting point of under 10 million tons, then rose to roughly 25 million tons in 1982 and saw a fluctuation around 20 million tons throughout the remaining years. Road transportation, which remained the highest figure among the 4 types of transportation, began at above 60 million tons and increased to under 100 million tons at the end of the recorded timeframe.
Regarding rail and water, both figures had a starting number of roughly 40 million tons, then the water-transported goods saw an upward trend, while railway-transported products decreased to 30 million tons in the period of 1982 to 1994. The figure for the railway mode gradually recovered to approximately 40 million tons, while the figure for water transportation goods dropped in 1998, then quickly increased to around 70 million tons.
