RAILWAY GAUGES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1730, 22 April 1913, Page 5

RAILWAY GAUGES.

PROBLEM OF UNIFICATION; - By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. April 21, 9.10 p.m.) Melbourne, April 21.At the lnter-Stato Conference of . Railway Engineers, it was decided to recommend the -unification of the trunk lines on tho 4ft. Biin. gauge, on which the New South; Wales' lines aro built. - It was estimated that the cost of converting the Queensland, Victorian, and other State lin.es to this gouge would bo .£13,500,000. It was considered that tho unification of tho wholo of the lines'would bo essential. ; This; would cost .837,000,060,' but tho smaller scheme would -suffice for tho present. It has been decided to build the transcontinental railway to Kalgoorlie An the 4ft.: BJin. gauge, which has come ,to bo recognised as the standard gauge. -This gauge now obtains in New South Wales. Victoria and South Australia adopted the sft. 3in. gauge after an agreement with, and at thfr instance of, New South Wales that oft. 3in. was to bo the uniform gauge. Originally Victoria wanted to build on the 4ft. BJin. gauge, but fell into line with New South Wales, and adopted the sft. 3iu. width, only to find later on that. New South Wales broke faith. It was only after Victoria had committed herself and built her lines on that'gauge (says tho "Argus") that New South Wales suddenly changed, and adopted tho 4ft. ijjin. Victoria's sft. Sin. gauge is the resuit of faithful adherence to a compact.