440 



NA TURE 



[February ix, 1909 



There are two principal factors, however, which have 

 somewhat lessened the urgency of the electrification 

 problem on London suburban lines. 



Suhurhan Congestion. 



A few years ago the principal trouble from which the 

 London suburban railways were suffering was the conges- 

 tion at their termini, and enormous sums of money were 

 consecjuently spent on enlarging these termini and in- 

 creasing the facilities for handling suburban traffic. Since 

 that time, however, suburban traffic has received a set- 

 back. .Although the provision of new facilities, such as 

 tubes and the conversion of horse tramways to electricity, 

 has undoubtedly created a very large new traffic, it has 

 also abstracted a large amount of traffic from the older 

 railways, and by that much has lessened the congestion 

 at their termini. Now it is a recognised fact that the 

 •idoption of electric traction is not, as a rule, justified 

 upon the grounds of reducing working expenses alone. It 

 is true that it usually enables working expenses to be re- 

 duced as compared with steam working, but the saving is 

 seldom, if ever, sufficient to pay for the capital charges 

 on the new expenditure involved, and to justify these 

 additional traffic is required. This additional traffic may 

 or may not be obtainable. In the case of the North- 

 Kastern Railway, in that of the Liverpool and Southport 

 lines, and in that of the Metropolitan District Rail- 

 way additional traffic has been obtained, but it remains 

 10 be seen, in view of the growing competition of electric 

 tramways and motor omnibuses, whtnher sufficient 

 additional traffic can be obtained upon the other London 

 suburban lines, like those now being converted by the 

 Brighton Company, for instance. 



Take the North London Railway, the receipts of which 

 show a steady diminution. Electrification has been more 

 than once mooted, and even considered, but never, we 

 lielievc, seriously investigated by the board ; such pre- 

 liminary and superficial investigations as have been made 

 have, it is believed, pointed to the fact that the cost of 

 converting the lines would not be justified, at least at 

 present, by the extra traffic obtainable ; whether a com- 

 plete investigation by an expert competent to decide upon 

 the commercial as well as the technical aspects would 

 show- a different result is a moot point. It may be, of 

 course, done when the Euston to Watford line is com- 

 pleted, and electricity is adopted on a part of the North- 

 Western system, in view of the intimate relations exist- 

 ing between these two companies. Many of those who 

 are most experienced in this question believe that it would 

 materially assist the latter to stem the steady reductions 

 in receipts which have now' been taking place for years, 

 while the difficulty of hauling " foreign " trains over the 

 system, which Lord Rathmore has mentioned, is one which 

 has been surmounted without diflicultv at the other end 

 of the "Outer Circle,'" where the North-Western trains 

 were until recently hauled from Earl's Court to the 

 Mansion House by electric locomotives. 



Direct Current and Siri^le-phase. 



In spite of the differences of opinion between experts as 

 to the relative merits of the different systems of electric 

 traction in use, especially those of the direct-current and 

 single-phase systems, each of which is in reality suited 

 to a different set of conditions, the real problem of electrifi- 

 cation at the present time is a commercial one. The fact 

 that in the past the electrical experts have been apt to 

 lay stress upon the technical side, and have in some cases 

 devoted less attention and study to the purely commercial 

 side than it warranted, has undoubtedly made an un- 

 favourable impression upon the railway director and busi- 

 ness man. The engineer of the old school was primarily 

 educated with the idea of designing and carrying out 

 undertakings which would work. Only since the beginning 

 of the present century has it been fully grasped that the 

 engineer, and more especially the electrical engineer, whose 

 opinion is to be worth paying for is the one who can make 

 a trustworthy report upon whether the undertaking will 

 pay. 



The growing importance of this aspect of the question 

 is strikingly illustrated in one of the latest reports upon 



NO. 2050, VOL. 79] 



liectric traction, that which the Railway Commissioners 

 of Victoria have recently made public. The keynote of 

 this whole report is whether the application of electric 

 traction to the system under discussion is financially 

 justified, and, in the second place only, to determine the 

 best means of applying electric traction if it be justifiable. 



More and more it is becoming realised in the railway 

 world that a considerable proportion of the traffic which 

 has been diverted from the railways to tramways and 

 omnibuses is traffic which these latter are more fitted to 

 carry. This diversion of traffic can often be stopped, and 

 in some cases, as has happened on the Tyne, for instance, 

 some of it can even be regained; but in the main, electrifi- 

 cation, to be justified, must create fresh traffic, usually 

 that of eight to ten or twelve miles, which is rather beyond 

 the profitable radius of a suburban tramway. Given 

 sufficient inducement to the season-ticket holders, the len- 

 to fifteen-mile suburban traffic in the neighbourhood of 

 provincial towns, and the fifteen- to twenty-five mile traffic 

 in the neighbourhood of London, is capable of very con- 

 siderable expansion. The movement of the daily bread- 

 winner to even greater distances from his work is a 

 steadily growing one. 



There is, of course, in addition to this, usuallv a con- 

 siderable saving in operating expenses even with the same 

 train mileage. When, as is always found advisable, the 

 train mileage after electrification is increased, the reduc- 

 tion in the working expenses per train mile is very con- 

 siderable. 



There is another cause lessening the urgency of London 

 suburban electrification, and that is the reduction in main- 

 line trains now being effected as the result of working 

 agreements, which makes suburban W'orking easier. 



The Financial Question. 



The Vicloriaji report already referred to shows very 

 clearly and typically the kind of financial change which 

 may be expected to be produced by electrification. This 

 system is a considerable one, with a track mileage of more 

 than 200 and a very dense traffic. The expenses per 

 train mile are i8-9J. with steam, and would be ii-od. wilii 

 electric traction. The total operating expenses with elec- 

 tric traction for the whole suburban system is 27,627/. 

 per annum less than with steam, but when the interest 

 on the new capital outlay is added, the total cost of 

 operating would be 44,791/. more than with steam. 

 .'\gainst this, however, is to be put the additional revenue 

 derived from the improved service, and it is shown that 

 the final result would be a balance in favour of electrifica- 

 tion. For some reason or other the figures appear to be 

 based upon a traffic increase of only 5 per cent, as the 

 result of electrification. Why such an exceptionally low- 

 figure is taken is not explained, for it is pretty certain 

 from the experience of the District Raihvay, the North- 

 Eastern Railway, the Manhattan Elevated, and, in fact, 

 almost every svstem which has been converted, that a very 

 much greater increase than this will certainly result. 



In addition to the decrease in the suburban traffics, and 

 consequently the terminal congestion, existing a few years 

 ago, the raihvay companies with termini in London have 

 felt some hesitation ow-ing to the introduction of the single- 

 phase system. The direct-current system which is used 

 on the Underground and for the majority of heavy 

 suburban electric traction schemes is not now the only one 

 possible. 



The single-phase system, w-hich is being adopted by the 

 Brighton Company, and whicli is used on the lines of the 

 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Company, offers 

 certain advantages over direct current, especially w^here the 

 ultimate extension of electric traction to main lines is 

 possible. It is, however, more expensive to install, 

 assuming the same degree of security and workmanship, 

 needs heavier rolling-stock, and a greater expenditure of 

 current. 



These two causes, together with the natural objection to 

 raising money at the present time and to the desire to 

 wait and see whether the Brighton experiment turns out 

 successful, both financially and technically, have made the 

 question of electrification in the London district fall into 

 abeyance at present. .\t the same time, it must not be 



