138 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



from the wider to the narrower means shortening the axles of thi- 

 roUing-stock wheels, a simple matter, while to carry out the reverse 

 operation of lengthening these axles would be practically impos- 

 sible. At the present time there are about 60,000,000 sleepers 

 on the Australian railway lines, of which about half are on the 

 3 ft. 6 in. gauge lines. The average life of a sleeper in Australia is 

 about twenty years, and, therefore, the annual renewals run to about 

 3,000,000 sleepers, but, owing to the results of war conditions, the 

 annual renewals at the present lime are nearly 5,000,000. Some 75 per 

 cent, of the 3 ft. 6 in. sleepers now in use are 7 ft. long, and such 

 a sleeper could be used with a, 4 ft. 8i in. gauge if for each rail four 

 new 8-ft. long sleepers were introduced along witli old 7-ft. sleepers, 

 one at each end and the other two equally spaced in between, provided 

 that only 60-lb. rails were used and that the traffic was neither heavy 

 nor fast. If such an arrangement were adopted there would be a 

 saving of something like 12,600,000 sleepers during the process of 

 conversion of the gauges. 



The Commission considered very carefully the various proposals 

 which had been made to obviate the need of the conversion of the 

 running track, such as, for example, the third-rail method and the 

 many mechanical devices which had been suggested for allowing the 

 same rolling-stock to be run over different gauges, and unanimously 

 turned them all down; in fact, a special board of experts had been 

 appointed in 1918 to examine and report upon a number of these 

 mechanical devices and suggestions, and had been unable to report 

 favourably on any of them. All such devices were merely in the nature 

 of temporary plans for postponing the ultimate coaiversion to a uniform 

 gauge; they therefore involved additional expenditure and an increase 

 in the final total cost of conversion. The Commission recommended that 

 the unification should be carried out gradually by shifting one of the 

 two rails of the 5 ft. 3 in. gauge inwards, and shiftmg both the rails in the 

 case of the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge outwards, the work to be done in stages 

 and temporary change stations to be arranged for, the traffic being 

 diverted as far as necessary while the length of track between two 

 change stations was being altered. 



This Royal Commission went very fully into the cost of the work 

 of conversion ; first, for the provision of a main line only on one gauge 

 from Premantle to Brisbane, leaving all other State lines unconverted; 

 and, secondly, from the point of view of bringing the whole railway 

 system of Australia to one uniform 4 ft. 8h in. gauge, and independent 

 estimates were prepared for each scheme. 



Cost for Converting the Main Line only, from Fremantle to Brisbane, to ] 

 a Uniform 4 ft. 8i in. Gauge. 



Three alternative routes were proposed (as shown in the lantern] 

 plates) : 



Cost Length of Track. 



Route £ Miles 



A . . . 17,850,000 3,356 



B . . . 19,583,000 3,243 



Modified A . . , 18,579,000 3,356 



