RAILWAY EFFICIENCY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1939, Page 6

RAILWAY EFFICIENCY

IMPROVEMENTS IN OPERATION IN CANADA. MONTREAL. Improvements in the efficiency of railway operations in Canada in recent years as a result of up-to-date equipment, modern mechanical devices and better right-of-way is indicated in a report issued by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company which states that “outstanding increases in the efficiency of railway operations have been made during the last 18 years in spite of the difficulties presented by reduced traffic and decreased earnings.” Since 1921 the average freight train load has increased from 602 tons to 654 tons, an improvement of 9 per cent. The average freight train speed (including all stops) has been stepped up from 11.6 miles per hour to 17.1 miles, a gain of 47 per cent. The quantity of coal, or its equivalent, required in freight service to move 1,000 tons of freight and equipment behind tenders a distance of one mile has been reduced from 135 pounds to 102 pounds, a saving of 24 per cent. In 1921 each freight train performed each hour on the average a service equivalent ot carrying 6,989 tons of freight a distance of one mile. This has been increased to 10,922 ton miles, an improvement of 56 per cent.