634. REPORT—1883. 
6,447,240 francs per annum capitalised, the commercial value is found to be 
5,160,000/., and that due to national and State purposes 11,791,000. sterling. 
The important question has now arisen, and has been taken into serious con- 
sideration by the Governments and local authorities interested, as to how far it 
may be possible to make other trans-Alpine railways, some of which are urgently 
needed, at a cost that would render them financially practicable; and to accomplish 
this object it has been proposed to effect a reduction of one-half or more of the 
cost, by carrying these railways over the mountain passes by means of steep 
gradients and the use of the centre rail system, as it was adopted on the Mont 
Cenis Railway. There would, however, be this great difference between that line 
and the new summit railways, that the latter would be made on the ordinary 
4 feet 8} inches gauge, instead of the narrow gauge of 3 feet 74 inches; the 
gradients would be 1 in 15, instead of 1 in 12 ; and the curves 10 chains’, in place of 
2 chains’ radius, so that a through service, without change of carriages or waggons, 
could be maintained between Italy on the one side, and France, Switzerland, and 
Germany on the other side of the Alps. 
Upon these improved summit railways the same weight and number of trains 
-could be run that are now running on the Mont Cenis Tunnel Railway, and with 
the protection of avalanche galleries and covered ways the regularity of the 
service would be maintained at all seasons of the year. 
The extra cost of working expenses caused by working over a higher level than 
that of a tunnel line would, if capitalised and added to the cost of construction, 
still leave a clear net saving of more than one-half in the cost of construction as 
compared with the cost of a tunnel railway. 
Of the different projects for additional Alpine railways, the two that are con- 
sidered of the greatest importance, and most likely to be made within a short period, 
are—first, the Mont Geneyvre Railway, from Oulx to Briancon, and second, the 
Great St. Bernard Railway, from Aosta to Martigny. The former is about twenty 
miles in length, would place Turin in direct communication with the port of Mar- 
seilles, and effect a saving of 100 miles in the distance between the north of Italy 
and the south-western departments of France. The cost of a summit railway with 
a super-elevation of 444 metres, or 1,456 feet, would be 16,000,000 francs, and the 
extra working expenses for a traffic of 100,000 passengers and 100,000 tons of goods 
per annum, capitalised, would be 3,000,000 francs. ‘The total cost would therefore 
be 19,000,000 francs, as compared with 40,000,000 francs, which is the estimated 
cost of this railway if made with a tunnel of about half the length of that on the 
St. Gothard Railway. There would also be a saving of several years in the time 
required for its construction. 
The Great St. Bernard Railway, from Aosta to Martigny, if carried over the 
summit of the pass would have an elevation of 2,776 metres above the level of the 
sea, which is about the same height as the Union Pacific Railway in America, and 
considerably less than that of the Andes. This summit level might, however, be 
reduced to 2,544 metres by a short tunnel of 2 kilometres in length, and further 
reduced to 1,998 metres by a tunnel of 4 kilometres in length. 
The cost of a summit railway, including the extra working expenses, would 
be 30,000,000 francs, and with the short tunnels above named 35,000,000 and 
40,000,000 franes respectively, for a total length of about 60 kilometres; whereas 
the estimated cost of a line with ordinary gradients and a tunnel of 6 kilometres 
in length is 80,000,000 francs, or double the cost of a line made with steep gradients 
on the centre rail system with a short summit tunnel. 
From the foregoing statement of facts it is evident that great tunnel lines cannot 
be made without the aid of subventions amounting to at least double the commercial 
value of an Alpine railway ; and that, as the railways already made across the Alps 
have satisfied all strategical and political requirements, the expenditure on future 
Alpine railways will probably be determined solely by their commercial and local 
value. If this should be the case, no more Alpine tunnels are likely to be made, 
and a less expensive method of construction must necessarily be adopted—such as 
the steep gradient and centre rail system, or this system combined with a short and 
inexpensive tunnel. 
