The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-19 00:00:00

RAILWAYS IN LONDON.

The railway scheme for 1864 must now soon be put into
the shape of Parliamentary notices, and as the decisions of

next session will probably settle the general plan of metro-

politan railway communication, it is desirable that the
public should be fully in possession of what passed before
the Lords' Committee of last session appointed to consider
the whole subject. There are three objects to be kept in

view, One is the substitution to a great extent of the rail,
way for the omnibus and cab in the internal traffic of Lon-
don. Mr. Thwaites, of the Metropolitan Board of Works,
pronounces this " a great evil," and says, when confronted
with the use made of the Metropolitan Railway in this
manner, " the greater the facility of conveyance, the more
you educate people in the habit of riding instead of walk-
ing." But another witness, Mr. Brunlees, takes a different
view, and observes that the metropolis may be regarded as
a series of contiguous towns, requiring facility of intercourse
with one another. Col. Yolland, of the Board of Trade, has
"a strong opinion" that it is necessary for the relief of the
streets that some arrangement should be wade by which
passengers may go from one part of the town to another by
railway. "I am a great advocatee' he says, "for railways
coming into London." The committee have reported that
additional railway communication is needed in the densely-
populated part of the metropolis. The City Surveyor main-
tains that it will come to this, that there will be trains run-
ning north, south, east, and west within the metropolis
every 10 minutes, the lines communicating with each other,
and requiring scarcely any change of carriage. The two
other objects in view are the collection and distribution of
the traffic for the long lines without its having to pass along
so many of the streets, and the establishment of railway
communication across London between the northern and
the southern termini. The traffic in passengers going from
north to south without stopping in London is very consi-
derable, and many in crossing London lose their trains
through the delay in the streets. No wonder the streets
are obstructed. The manager of the Midland states that
that railway company alone cart through London to the '
southern stations about 100,000 tons of goods in the year,
and that in a few years the quantity will probably have in-
creased five or sixfold. The Great Northern spend £l,OOO a
week in cartage of goods (not coals) to their destination in
London, or to the southern termini. The boldest scheme
propounded to the committee was that of Mr. Fowler, the
engineer of the Metropolitan Railway. He proposed that
that railway should be extended westward from its present
Paddington terminus to Notting-hill, and then turned
southwards just beyond Kensington gardens, and brought
back into the pity, passing in its way under a new wide street
into Holborn, and finally forming a junction near the Fleet
valley with the existing Metropolitan line. The committee
ad,pting substantially this project, propose what they style
" an inner circuit of railway," connecting all the principal
railway termini, and comprising not only an extension of the
Metropolitan Railway westward and southward, but also
eastward—and they recommend also that an cuter circle of
railway be formed, intersecting the principal northern lines
at a greater distance, but still within the metropolitan dis-
trict, and that every such system of internal railway com-
munication be under one management. Earl Grey pro-
posed a novel arrangement—namely, that as the Metropoli-
tan Railway Company are already in possession of a route
which must form a very considerable part of any system of
railways in London, that company should be invited to pro-
pose a plan for its extension upon the understanding that if
it should prove satisfactory Parliament would refuse to en-
tertain oompeting proposals from any other quarter ; that,
in fact, a concession of the exclusive right of proposing bills
next session for the district between the existing line of
the Metropolitan and an extension line passing round by
Kensington to the raver should be offered to that com-
pany, and that the shares in the new lines to be thus
devised should be disposed of by public competition, and
half of all profits over eight per cent. be paid over to the
Metropolitan Board of Works towards the expense of new
public works. But the committee negatived Earl Grey's re-
solutions. It is thought doubtful whether all the objects in
view can be served by the same line. It is the interest of the
company to give a preference to the short traffic. Mr. Fowler
himself says that the local traffic on the Metropolitan would
be inconsistent with its being used largely for the purposes
of the long lines, or at all events for many of the long lines
coming on at the end of it; but he holds that it might be
made of great service in collecting and distributing traffic
for all the railways, and its traffic raight be increased at
least threefold without difficulty. Mr. Hawkshaw
bring
_
their stations nearer to the centre of London, (3
land considers that .the extension of many
lines into the metropolis would be advantar
with
lie. The committee, however, resolved that,
,
lion of the Great Eastern, it is not dleosn g
main stations of any of the principal to the pub-
lines existing
itsh the excep-
aable to bring the
lines further into
should be made for
London, but that one or more railwayst:opar of London to the
carrying passengers from differeont
be in the hands of any
main stations, such new lines nt
laced under such manage-
one of the great companies,
ment as to ensure equal advabnutwaPgaessotnooalt.yAmong the pre-
Mr. Bezel tt
jects laid before the cora
Tnllliatmte:s embankment and new streetgee
for a railway under the g the Cannon-
to the Mansion-house, com
m
unicatin with
the
acyitwood points to the line
street terminus and extending
rtoHthe North London termi-
nus in Liverpool-street, butuM
y nd Charing-cross.
already constructing btetw.fee .
the G.eat Eastern had come to
Fin b states constructing
Finsbury-circus he should have proposed a continuation to
quare on a viaduct, roofed over, worked on the
Leicester-s
1 with one stationary engine, and
atmospheric PriuciP e,
having
a continuous platform, the carriages to stop every
quarter of a mile, and access to the platform to be given by
turnstiles at penny fares, people getting in where they like
and out where they like. Another project has the high
sanction of Colonel Yolland—a line from Euston-road to
onaeingecross, giving direct communication between the
Sonth-Eastern lines and the northern lines; the northern
lines might then find room about Leicester-square for
stations, where they might make up auxiliary trains to be
coupled to the main trains in Easton-seed. The committee
say nothing of this project, but recommend that there be a
line on the eastern sido of the metropolis connecting the
g
railways north and south of the Thames ; meanin appa-
rently, either a high level line across the Thames, or aline
through the Thames-tunnel, notwithstanding the difficulty
of the gradients. They consider that the heavy goods traffic
can, as a general rule, be most conveniently carried from
the northern railways to the southern by lines not passing
through the central portions of the metropolis. There is
such a way by Kensington, but the manager of the Midland
states that after his company have brought coals to London
from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire for about 6s. a ton,
a demand of 2s. is made for passage over the lines to Ken-
sington-basin, which practically has the effect of stopping
the traffic, and doing its part towards keeping up the price
of coals in the south of England. Mr. Forbes, of the Chat-
ham line, states that it costs ss. or 6s. a ton to get goods
i.`larough London. It is estimated that now lines in Lon-
dot, will cost on an average 1300,000 per mile. The con-
strwLin of the one mile from Nine Elms to Waterloo-
road co: 51,000,000, and Mr. Scott can scarcely say the
traffic over Ilea, ono mile could have paid for so great_eano.
expenditure ; but, soking to the whole of the SounW it
tern, it has to be said laa:t it could never have btheeere what
More, it
now is but for that extent:sa'? and in reality,bo
th for itself and
spent that money to a very g 00.2 Purpose.
the public.

—_____ _ _
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orter ap
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replied the
proached and said, "If your royal highness will hive - '
me
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