SYDNEY’S TRANSPORT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 344, 3 May 1928, Page 11

SYDNEY’S TRANSPORT

ONE ELECTRIC TRAIN COSTS £53,000.

The rapid advance in the transport system of Greater Sydney is due largely to the use of electric trains. One o£ these costs over £ 53,000 of the total capital cost of these cars will be £7,250,000. The electric trains now in commission consist, as a rule, of eight car sets —four carriages with electrical motor equipment, and four trailers. The former cost about £9,250 each and the latter about £4,000 each. There are at present in commission 460 electric carriages, and calculated on the basis of half electrically-equipped carriages and half trailers, they cost more than £3,000,000. The number of electric carriages on order and in course of construction is 305, and it is estimated that 1,100 carriages wall be required for the complete services in the metropolitan area, and that the aggregate cost will be not less than £7,250,000. No suburban type locomotives have been built since 1914, while the construction of suburban carriages for steam traction was suspended in 1916, owing to the transition from to electricity. On the basis of costs during the period mentioned a steam train could be placed in service for a little more than £15,000. Up-to-date rolling stock for the country services is, of course, much more expensive, and an estimate of the cost of building the Melbourne express (locomotive, five sleeping cars, and a brakevan) is about £50,000, of which £16,500 represents the cost of the engine. The most recent type of sleeping car costs £6,274. The first-class corridor (non-sleeping) car is the most expensive passenger vehicle in use, costing about £7,100, while the second-class carriage of the same type costs about £6,500. The most expensive locomotive in use is the modern "D 57” type of goods engine (without tender), at £20,815. The capital cost of all roiling stock in use to serve the 5,750 miles of railways in the State is set down at £20,111,073.