SYDNEY'S NEW THRILL.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18894, 8 January 1927, Page 7

SYDNEY'S NEW THRILL.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY. (FROM OUR OWX COHEESrONDENT.) SYDNEY, December 30. Already the novelty of travelling on the railway that runs under Sydney is wearing off. During the 24 hours following its opening, more than 40,000 people used the railway. Not a few of them, especially people down from the country for the holidays, did so out of a spirit of adventure. But more and more Sydney is becoming to accept Australia's first underground railway as a matter of form, and is anxiously awaiting the day, far distant it is feared, when it will be ablt to travel, not merely on a section of the line, as at present, but along the whole length of it right round the City. The entrances to and exits from the stations are at present temporary rude iron and wooden structures wholly out of keeping with the magnificence of the appointments as one descends to the platforms. There was an extraordinary rush among people anxious to claim the distinction of being the first to buy a ticket to travel on the underground The honour fell to a bus conductor in one of the suburbs. It was richly deserved too, for he left his home in dismal rain, at 2 a.m., atid was at the tifket office at St. Ja*>es station, in Hvdp Park, an hour later. Among those who arrived at an extraordinarily early hour were family parties, and amoncr them not a few childrea. The bus conductor, however, was too smart for them. The faces of the first passengers as the pioneer swept into a tunnel under one of Sydney's biegest emnnriums. were a studv. The majority smiled. It was a new thrill. A few seemed slightlv nervous. Others read their nioers without apnarent interest. Amidst the brilliant lighting of the platforms and trains, the impression, even in the early hours of the mornins. is that of travelling in the depth of night.