What impact did railways have on Britain?

Answer 1

people were able to travel greater distances for leisure and work.

and more x

Perhaps the greater impact was the means to move freight far more rapidly and more efficiently than hitherto, although it still meant a lot of local collections and deliveries between producer or customer and the nearest railway goods sidings; and for years was still very labour-intensive. This encouraged rapid industrial growth.

The railways rendered the canals obsolete very rapidly, because what may have taken a week to move by canal could now take a day or so of route time - and even in the days of loose-coupled 10ton wagons or vans one train would carry the equivalent of several 70ton narrow-boat (not "barge"!) loads.

Among the benefits here was the ability to move perishable foodstuffs from fish-dock or farm to the cities ensuring it reached households while still reasonably fresh (before refrigeration became widespread).

After decades of decline, rail and passenger freight are both increasing again, thanks largely to higher train speeds & for passengers, big accommodation advances; making them attractive alternatives to both road and air for internal travel. Freight rail traffic is now mainly confined to heavy bulk materials and containers, on fast (70mph+), long-distance routes.

Answer 2

They're not used enough ! We clog up our roads with huge HGV lorries - instead of using the rai network to distribute goods !