RAILWAY TRAVELLING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 December 1924, Page 8

RAILWAY TRAVELLING.

GENERAL DISCONTENT. COMMISSION’S OPINION. The Railway Commissioners in their report state that dissatisfaction exists in regard to the slow and infrequent railway services;- The report says It is essential there should be a Chief .Mechanical Engineer fully qualified and thoroughly conversant with up-to-date methods of railway working, who slio -hi have one Divisional Engineer in each Island to assist'him. It is a question whether the Divisional Engineer in the North Island could not act as assistant to the. Chief Mechanical Engineer thus saving three officers. This would enable better salaries to be giveii. with no increased: cost, and would put the Works Managers on a more substantial footing; ■ There is a good deal of money which it is suggested should be spent on the running sheds. We think that the pro portion of engines under cover is such that a large expenditure in this connection is not warranted. At any rate, it is not one of the most important needs of the Mechanical Engineering Department. There seems a great want of suitable returns comprising costs, etc., with other railways. It is impossible to be satisfied that the best is being done without a: comparison of some kind. It would not appear that the young engineers are encouraged to quality fo any technical degree. In fact, the Chief Mechanical Engineer deprecated any introduction of a method by which this might be carried out, having a poor opinion of the technical training m Wellington, as will be seen by his evidence, tohould this be continued,' it will be impossible"' lor engineers trained in the railway service to rise to important positions ill the future; We consider this matter worthy of careful consideration. There are many difficulties to be overcome with regard to rail motorcars using internal-combustion engines on railways with heavy gradients, -ire-' qnent stops, and requiring high acceleration. We are, therefore, unable to recommend any particular design which m,ight be expected to fulm the requirements on the New Zealand railways. it is noted that it has been decided to ..make.-.'(rials of certain pecroidriven vehicles. Tke information gained; by these should be of value. For 'a light train service a suitable steam-locomotive would seem to be prexerable, and -as a Sentinel-CammoL steam rail coach is on order, and tins appears to have worked traffic satisfactorily and economically in Jerseyover. heavy gradients of \ in -1U and round 5-, 7-, and 9-chain chrves, with frequent stops from Corbiere to St. Hehers, useful information will.be gain, ed, our knowledge of the work done being second hand. The'North :Eastern Railway of England: ran steam-trains with" the locomotive ’in between two coaches and with a driver’s compartment at each end, so designed as to allow of the driver working the train from each passenger-coach, the fireman.- alone being on the engine. An old light locomotive was used and worked satisfactorily. It had the advantage that old. stock was utilised which had become obsolete for heavier work, but was in every way suitable for light work othis description. Uu the New Zealand* railways, there would appear to be engines of light design, which it is understood are unable, to deal with the work for which they were intended —i.e., Classes L and La, and these might be made use of by attaching a coach for light train service such as’would be expected of a rail motor.vehicle. These <?onld , bake an extra coach, if necessary. We would- strqncly recommend - that these be . tried before experimenting witli a light t\pe of steam-engine which, if nol successful, would be, absolutely useless. y\ e also think it unwise and injudicious: to work these engines with oulv one man.

' Qn looking into the working on hraneh lines it shows thH engines tak. mg mixed trains are kept standing lor many hours. It would be possibbTand desirable to rearrange the.’ working so as to allow for the .running of a light ■passenger-train by the same engine and cairiages. This would enablemore use to be made: of the men and also of the rolJing-stb 'k, instead of using a motorvehicle. AYe do npt recommend anv further money being : expended on motor-coaches at present.. The evidence given on behalf of the public, a perusal of the time-tables «■ record of the actual times kept by the a * ns ’ an d statistics of train-earnings show that, as a resi lt of slow and infrequent services, general discon Lent exists, and the inhabitants of New .Zealand do not make use of railways Toi the purpose of travel to the same extent that under ordinary circumstances they might'be expected to do. Comparisons are not always reliable as «i guide, but the record of the total number of passengers travelling oil the Queensland, South Australian, and Western Australian lines, as compared with New Zealand, does indicate that I there is less railway travel in the latter country in proportion to the population, than, in the States mentioned, there were in 1923-24 only 28,430,475 passengers on the New Zealand rnil- ’• Ya 3' s > "ith «■ population of 1,347,723 wnereas in Queensland, with n popuTa' tion of 805,636, the number of passeim. ers who travelled by railway in 199? South Australia with •'>i5,130 residents had 25,107,379 passengers by rai|;< and AVestem Australia ..>M 18,133,168, passengers, for a pom;lation of 343,430. The average number of journeys per head of pomilatior m the year was—New Zealand, 21 TS ?™* ns ! a,lf X -35.82; South Aust -alia '/.40; and Western Australia, 51.27 train services. We cannot but-think that the reason :or Lins disparity is to'be found in L he Liam service. On some parts of tin oystem trains cannot be run at any great speed by reason of grades and curves; but when it is found, as a sample, that on one line the only trains run in a day take two and a half hours to cover thirty-nine miles, it cannot be considered as a reasonable rate of progression and it is not to be wondered at that the motor-car is used bv everybody who possess, or who can hire such a vehicle, in competition with the roil. Not only is travelling slow—it is irksomebecause, with the exception of mam-line mail and some suburban all trains are mixed. Passengers have to sit as patiently as they can in the trains whilst, goods-shunting operation? are carried out, often at each station at which the train stops. Tt was stated in evidence (Q. 2503) that “in the_ case of journeys np to about JO to s(> miles, where road and rail facilities are usually both too slow and infre. qeent, and as a result the passenger chooses road.” The evidence goes on to say, “We are confident that "if the rail can economically give equal facilil ties to the road it can raoicllv recover much of.the traffic that it has lost to road. v In the case of ioumevs nyp'about 50 miles very few (if ’indeed any) passengers travelling on business

choose the road unless rail facilities are so poor that they do not provide a practicable alternative. In spite of this undoubted preference for rail is losing a tremendous number of passengers to the road.’’ In some, eases it is not possible to travel to and from business centres situated 80 or 100 miles apart and return the same day. In addition to the disadvantages of slow travel, there are in many instances long waits at junction stations for connecting trains. MOTOR COMPETITION. Many members of the staff, who were questioned as to any remedy the\ eoul'd suggest for recovering traffic lost to the motor-car, were of the opuuou biiat nothing could be done without r. lining unremuneratiie trains. They were appaiently of the opinion that a single additional train cost 12s per mile to run. They had evidently taken this idea from the yearly Railway Report, as they also took the loss upoi. certain lines and deprecated the run - ’.ling o: -'better services upon those lines for that reason. In one instance it r :>.s stated; “There is no likelihood of increase in passenger traffic if better services.are provided, as.there are too many motor-cars in the district.” Other officers were convinced that, as motor competition* is becoming- more and more acute, a bettei- passenger service; should be provided and fares reduced, but they are disheartened by j the absence of any determined attempt to meet competition. As' noted ,in the. “Mechanical” sbo tion of our report, there is a waste of engine-power, by the standing of en gines in steam for many- hours when they might be utilised for the aclditionM trains; which reasonable public facili•des demand. Evidence was given that, on a branch line an engine,: stands •’•om 11.19 a.m. until 3.30 p.m.. and in -mother case from 8.20 a.m. until 6.17 p.m. s ' ■ r rbe running of mixed trains is, from one aspect—vix., that of avoiding the cost of separate trains for passengers md goods—an economical arrangement, 'wt, apart from the tedium of travel in. b'ot«d upon the public, there is with-”' V’bt.a disadvantage by shunting h-v----mg to be performed where every train has goodsAvagons upon it. The ratio of sbunting-mileage to total locomotiveis 22.50 on the New : Zer>n' 1 Railways, as asainst 13.90 in ’-"+b Wales, 12 52 in Victoria, .*7 r ’tv Queensland, -and 17'35 m South' a i-<L .This"-■p’huntinst-mile.enr R in New go"iqv,d glees not include sbnntin - 1 ’ ■"am “ugines at stations ..en' rente.*'T'l'’f’nn nf the latter would show yV-nting-Triileage' at still greater dis■dvantaoe. REORGANISATION OF TIMETABLES ESSENTIAL. We recommend a complete reorganisation of the. time-tables with the ob,.,ect. of meeting public requirements, and providing at suitable times as many passenger-trains as can conveii lently and economically be run, leavgoods. traffic to be conveyed b,» goods service,, excepting only in those instances where the running of mixed lins: is. not calculated to divert traffic ; fn revising the time-tables regard ihoi. lcl be had to the profitable employment of engine-power in. order to elihinate-, the waste. caused by.*■•engines standing m steam and earning nothing ior many hours. The closest co-opera-tion. between the operating and Jocomoive branches is necessary to achieve bis. At the same time all train? mould be speeded up. v They are not ai oresent running , to : the speeds 'deter---iiined by the Chief Engineer, ariclmanj )f the maximum speeds could; witliv,t danger, be increased, especially if stops are eliminated at unimportant , ta tions in the case, of business trains between populous centres. It is .difficult o the districts demandmg pnm- attention, but we consider .ho Auckland-Hamilton, the Dunedihvnvercaivnll, the Wanganui and Christ.. ,‘hurch district services should receive ipecml attention; Limited trains have recently been arranged between Wellington and_ Auckland. To make these •.rains popular we would suggest that ■.images of modern type, replete with fche best form of sleeping and lavatory .accommodation,' be specially cohstructhe same time the attaching !,. a i hi ealctast-car to these trains at •lie last stopping-place short of ..'Wellington or Auckland would, be appreciited. Only by making trains comfort- ' 1 as speedy can the motor competition be countered. The latest ‘.vpe of the South African (3ft'.'Bin l"A e V r n"'? ys ex P ress trains is an xample lively to meet with oeneral Approval in New Zealand, ' °