The line graph illustrates the transportation of goods in the UK from 1974 to 2002.
Overall, it is clear that the four categories, including road, water, rail, and pipeline, fluctuated significantly. Notably, the goods transported by road recorded the highest trend over the period, while pipeline reached the lowest figure throughout 28 years.
In 1974, the transportation of goods by pipeline reached approximately 5 million tonnes before increasing slightly to 10 million tonnes in the next 4 years. Afterwards, the pipeline surged to nearly 25 million tonnes and remained stable from 1982 to 1990 before falling to 20 million tonnes and staying unchanged until 2002. Subsequently, goods transported by road increased from around 70 million tonnes in 1974 to nearly 80 million tonnes, then leveled off until 1994. In 1998, road transport grew gradually to 90 million tonnes before reaching the highest figure at nearly 100 million tonnes at the end of the period.
In the first year of the period, rail transport reached exactly 40 million tonnes while water remained nearly 40. By contrast, the figure for water surpassed rail transport in 1978 and increased to nearly 69 million tonnes in 1982, whereas rail decreased to 30 million tonnes. From 1982 to 1994, railway and water transport remained approximately 60 and 30 million tonnes respectively. However, the transportation of goods by water fell to 50 million tonnes before rising again and reaching more than 60 million tonnes. Furthermore, the trend of rail increased again in 2002, which was the same figure as in 1974.