The line graph illustrates how much goods were transported in the UK by four various types of transports over a period of 28 years from 1974 to 2002 at 4 year intervals.
Overall, all modes of transport experienced an upward trend except rail. While the road and water became the most usage, the rail and pipeline consistently remained the least one.
Focusing on the road, it started at a whopping 70 million tonnes in 1974. Also, this figure rose slightly to nearly 81 million tonnes in the following 16 years before declining in 1994. Notably, it showed the most significant growth in the last 18 years, increasing sharply from 80 million tonnes in 1994 to a peak of around 100 million tonnes by the year 2002.
The quantities of goods which were transported through water, initially remained unchanged by 1978 before grew rapidly to around 57 million tonnes in 1982. From that point onwards, this trend again underwent the point of stability from 1984 by 1990. This level, however, dropped to just under 50 million tonnes in 1998, before rising swiftly to about 62 million tonnes in the final year.
As for the rail, at the beginning of the period, it also stayed constant by 1978, after which the figure climbed slowly, with minor fluctuations, to nearly 41 million tonnes by the end of the period. Meanwhile, goods transported by pipeline starter at around 3 million tonnes in 1974, the lowest figure recorded in the chart, a figure that then went up minimally to 20 million tonnes by 1994. Lastly, it remained stable by the end of the period.