In the early 1960s the UK government commissioned a report on the state of British transpot. One of the most infamous legacies of this was something eventually called "the Beeching plan" which was, basically, a scheme to close the least profitable third of the then existing rail network.

Richard Beeching was chairman of British Railways, an appointee by the Conservative government, who felt that if the railways could shed their least productive lines that the rest of the network would become more profitable.

At its largest in 1950, the rail network extended over 21,000 miles and included 6000 stations. Already by 1963 several lines had already closed, but Beeching's plan had a massive further effect, leading to the closure of 6000 miles of track.

Beeching's report argued that bus services would be able to replace public transport losses in rural communities, but this didn't really work. What's worse, although Beeching's plan managed to save a few million pounds in maintenance, it lost many times that in lost revenue (people travelling from branch lines onto main lines).

And that's without counting any environmental costs of encouraging dependence on road transport.