This article uses a range of primary and secondary sources to analyse the work of the Irish Railway Commission 1836–39 and its challenge to the predominantly laissez-faire approach to railway development in Britain. The commission produced a model for developing railways with the state and public interest at its heart, and it advocated railways as a system that was planned to deliver specific political and economic objectives. It thereby threatened railway interests in Britain and mobilised senior political advocates of laissez-faire to defeat the commission. Nonetheless, its work was a substantial contribution to understanding Ireland and the weaknesses of nineteenth-century railway regulation that deserves a more prominent place in the history of the relationship between technology and politics.

中文翻译：

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爱尔兰铁路委员会（1836-39）旨在改革英国的铁路并改善爱尔兰的治理

本文使用一系列主要和次要资源来分析爱尔兰铁路委员会 1836-39 年的工作及其对英国铁路发展主要采用自由放任方法的挑战。该委员会制定了以国家和公共利益为核心的铁路发展模式，并主张将铁路作为一种旨在实现特定政治和经济目标的系统。因此，它威胁到英国的铁路利益，并动员了自由放任的高级政治倡导者来击败该委员会。尽管如此，它的工作对理解爱尔兰和 19 世纪铁路监管的弱点做出了重大贡献，在技术与政治之间的关系史上，它理应占据更突出的位置。