These tasks may be summarised as comprising the maintenance and improvement of railway services and facilities during a transitional period; the reorganising of systems of management and technical practices, so as to secure maximum efficiency and economy from the fusion of four major railway systems (using for these purposes all the resources and traditional skill of the former companies); and the building-up of a sense of common purpose and esprit de corps among a staff of more than 600,000 men and women.
Source: wiktionary