ELECTRIC RAILWAY

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1933, Page 7

ELECTRIC RAILWAY

LONDON TO BRIGHTON.

NEW SYSTEM IN USE. LONDN, December 30. A speed of more than 7-3 miles an hour was reached during the inauguration to-day of the Southern Railway’s -ill electric route to Brighton. The service will be opened to the public on Sunday and thereafter will include 23 express trains each day. The ceremony marked the completion of a scheme which has cost £2,50,000, and 99 per cent of the 'work has been carried out by British firmsDevelopment became possible only after the Central Electricity Board embarked on the grid scheme of supply for the whole country. The opening coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first electric railway in the world. Eafly lines employed current at 250 volts, while the supply for the Brighton service is taken from the grid at 132,000, volts and reduced at a serious of sub-stations. The electrification of the Brighton, line has been carried out on the third rail system, to which the Southern Railway recently was converted, stages previously having, been electrified overhead. The London and North Eastern Railway is developing an alternative system by which the current used for propulsion is generated on the train itself by Diesel;- engines. Railway engineers are watching the results of the different systems with groat interest.