STANDARDISED GAUGE COMING

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 91, 11 January 1935, Page 10

STANDARDISED GAUGE COMING

Australian Railway Lines

ADVANTAGES OUTLINED BY EXPERT

The view that sooner or later the gauge of the railway lines of Australia must be standardised is held by Sir Henry Fowler, late chief mechanical engineer to the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway Company, who was in Wellington yesterday. By that he means that the gauge of all lines must conform to the 4ft. Continental. English, and American standard, which is th'e gauge now obtaining in New South Wales and on the trans-Contin-ental route. “So far,” said Sir Henry, “settlement in Australia has been confined to a fringe of land round the coast, and as a result trade between the different parts has been conveniently carried out by sea connections —from one port to another. But that is not always to be the case. Australia is a vast continent with almost limitless resources and immense possibilities, and with plenty of land for development in the interior. “One day she may carry a much larger population than she does to-day. and that population must be served. Motor transport? Oh, yes, there are lorries with 26 wheels traversing the inland deserts' to-day, but lorries cannot transport coal for large populations in anything like the quantity or at the cost that railways can do it for. “The cost of the change is stated to be round about £21,000,000 for alteration of lines of rolling stock. That is a -large sum, but then the issues at stake are very large, and standardisation would carry with it certain economies in working which would off-set the initial cost of the change-over.”