A FEDERAL RAILWAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 402, 7 October 1911, Page 7

A FEDERAL RAILWAY.

_ The Federal Government has settled a vexed question by adopting the standard guage of 4ft BJin for the railway which is to link up Port Augusta in South Australia and Kalgoorlie in the West, completing the great trans-continental railway of the Commonwealth. The question recently has given rise to vigorous discussion, a strong body of opinion having been favourable to the construction of a broad-gauge railway. There are 324 miles of 4ft B£in gauge railway in New South Wales, but South Australia and Victoria have constructed 4034 miles of sft 3in gauge, and there are also 45 miles of the larger gauge lines in New South Wales. The Federal Government therefore has had to decide between rival claims, and it has chosen to adopt the recommendation of the Railway War Council on the matter and follow the practice of British countries. Ic has been estimated that the conversion of the lines of sft 3in gauge to the narrower limit will cost £2,360,000, as against £4,260,000 for the reverse process, so that the financial respect of an undertaking which will necessitate under present conditions an expenditure of about £6,000,000 no doubt has received very careful consideration. In some countries of great spaces and huge traffic thß opinion has developed during recent years that broad gauge, railways are more economical than those of the standard gauge but the Federal authorities would be looking a long way into the future if they anticipated a development that would tax the resources oC the 3ystem they have selected. They require a railway which will serve the needs of the country in the matter ot defence and a line which will link up effectively the interests of East and West. At present the federation between Western Australia and the eastern States is purely political, but the transcontinental railway my help to convert it into practical business union. ______