Editing United Kingdom (section)

=== Transport ===
{{Main|Transport in the United Kingdom}}
{{see|Transport in England|Transport in Scotland|Transport in Northern Ireland|Transport in Wales}} 
[[File:An LNER Azuma train on the East Coast Railway Line, geograph 6275180 by Walter Baxter.jpg|thumb|A high-speed [[East Coast Main Line]] train in [[Northumberland]]]]
[[File:Heathrow Terminal 5C Iwelumo-1.jpg|thumb|[[Airports of London|London]] has the [[List of busiest city airport systems by passenger traffic|busiest city airport system]] in the world.]]

A radial road network totals {{Convert|29145|mi|km}} of main roads, {{Convert|2173|mi|km}} of motorways and {{Convert|213750|mi|km}} of paved roads.<ref name="factbook" /> The [[M25 motorway|M25]], encircling London, is the largest and busiest bypass in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moran |first=Joe |url=https://archive.org/details/readingeveryday00mora |title=Reading the Everyday |date=16 November 2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-37216-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/readingeveryday00mora/page/n107 95] |url-access=limited}}</ref> In 2022, there were a total of 40.8&nbsp;million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.<ref name="Transport stats 2022">{{cite web |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Freddie |title=RAC foundation traffic stats |url=https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/mobility#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20there,the%20end%20of%20September%202022. |access-date=24 February 2023 |archive-date=24 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224202503/https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/mobility#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20there,the%20end%20of%20September%202022. |url-status=live }}</ref>

The UK has an extensive railway network of {{Convert|10072|mi|0|abbr=out}}. In Great Britain, the [[British Rail]] network was [[privatisation of British Rail|privatised]] between 1994 and 1997, followed by a rapid rise in passengers. [[Great British Railways]] is a planned state-owned public body that will oversee [[rail transport in Great Britain]]. The UK was ranked eighth amongst national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sylvain Duranton |last2=Agnès Audier |last3=Joël Hazan |last4=Mads Peter Langhorn |last5=Vincent Gauche |date=18 April 2017 |title=The 2017 European Railway Performance Index |url=https://www.bcg.com/en-ch/publications/2017/transportation-travel-tourism-2017-european-railway-performance-index.aspx |publisher=Boston Consulting Group |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531104458/https://www.bcg.com/en-ch/publications/2017/transportation-travel-tourism-2017-european-railway-performance-index.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

The UK has a train direct from London to Paris which takes 2hrs 16mins<ref>{{Cite web |title=London to Paris Trains |url=https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/train/london-to-paris |access-date=11 May 2024 |publisher=Eurostar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511114452/https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/train/london-to-paris |archive-date=11 May 2024}}</ref> called the [[Eurostar]], it travels through the [[Channel Tunnel]] under the [[English Channel]], at 23.5&nbsp;miles long it is the world's longest undersea tunnel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Channel Tunnel, Tunnel, Europe |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Channel-Tunnel |access-date=11 May 2024 |publisher=Britannica|date=10 May 2024}}</ref> There is also a car service through the tunnel to France called [[LeShuttle]]. The [[Elizabeth line]], a rail link running between East and West London, was named in honour of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] in 2016 and opened in 2022. It was Europe's largest construction project at the time and is estimated to bring in £42&nbsp;billion to the UK economy.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 January 2012 |title=Crossrail's giant tunnelling machines unveiled |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16289051 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410034914/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16289051 |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Leftly |first=Mark |date=29 August 2010 |title=Crossrail delayed to save £1bn |work=Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/crossrail-delayed-to-save-1631bn-2064629.html |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-date=16 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116062835/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/crossrail-delayed-to-save-1631bn-2064629.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Crossrail to become the Elizabeth line in honour of Her Majesty the Queen |url=https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2016/february/crossrail-to-become-the-elizabeth-line-in-honour-of-her-majesty-the-queen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225110413/https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2016/february/crossrail-to-become-the-elizabeth-line-in-honour-of-her-majesty-the-queen|archive-date=25 February 2023|website=Transport for London}}</ref> Another major infrastructure project is [[High Speed 2]] (HS2), a new high speed railway under construction. It will link London with Birmingham, with the potential to extend further north and capable of speeds of up to 225&nbsp;mph.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is HS2 |url=https://www.hs2.org.uk/what-is-hs2 |website=HS2 |access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621190841/https://www.hs2.org.uk/what-is-hs2/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=HS2 Trains |url=https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/trains/ |website=HS2 |access-date=24 February 2023 |archive-date=24 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224183953/https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/trains/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2023, there were 4 billion bus journeys in the UK, 1.8 billion of which were in London.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2023 Domestic Travel |date=19 December 2024|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2024/transport-statistics-great-britain-2023-domestic-travel | website=gov.uk|access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref> The red [[Double-decker bus|double-decker]] bus has entered popular culture as an internationally recognised icon of England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Collection |url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/index.html |access-date=16 August 2014 |publisher=icons.org.uk}}</ref> The [[London Buses|London bus network]] is extensive, with over 6,800 scheduled services every weekday carrying about 6&nbsp;million passengers on over 700 different routes making it one of the most extensive bus systems in the world and the largest in Europe.<ref>[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/1548.aspx London Buses], Transport for London. Accessed 10 May 2007.</ref>

During 2024, [[List of airports in the United Kingdom and the British Crown Dependencies|UK airports]] handled a total of 292.5 million passengers.<ref name="caastats">{{Cite web |title=Size of Reporting Airports 2024 |url=https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/11910/4d230d1f-dab6-4c1a-992a-431b9cca89a2/16918 |access-date=17 January 2025 |publisher=Civil Aviation Authority}}</ref> In that period the three largest airports were [[London Heathrow Airport]] (83.9 million passengers), [[Gatwick Airport]] (43.2 million passengers) and [[Manchester Airport]] (30.8 million passengers).<ref name="caastats" /> London Heathrow Airport, located {{Convert|15|mi|km|}} west of the capital, is the world's [[List of busiest airports by passenger traffic|second busiest airport by international passenger traffic]] and has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world;<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 June 2008 |title=Heathrow 'needs a third runway' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7472432.stm |access-date=17 October 2008}}; {{Cite press release |title=Statistics: Top 30 World airports |date=July 2008 |publisher=Airports Council International |url=http://www.aci.aero/aci/aci/file/Press%20Releases/2008/TOP30_International%20Passengers_2007.pdf |access-date=15 October 2008}}</ref> it is the hub for the UK flag carrier [[British Airways]], as well as [[Virgin Atlantic]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 October 2008 |title=BMI being taken over by Lufthansa |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7697261.stm |access-date=23 December 2009}}</ref> During 2023, 18.3 million passengers travelled internationally by rail and 18.1 million travelled internationally by sea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2023 International Travel |date=19 December 2024|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2024/transport-statistics-great-britain-2023-international-travel|website=gov.uk|access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref>