parliamentary train

Definitions

Originally a requirement in the Railway Regulation Act 1844 for railways to run at least one train a day each way, at a cost to passengers of no more than one penny a mile, on every railway line in the country. Presently the term is used for passenger trains that serve a line or station only once a day or week to avoid the cost of applying for closure.

UK, historical

Examples

“He [Gladstone] also required the operators to run⟳ 'Parliamentary Trains' - one each day calling at every station at a fare of not more than a penny per mile for Third Class.”

“1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, https://archive.org/details/mikadootherplays00gilb The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer⟳ / To ride⟳ on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.”

CEFR level