The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-05 00:00:00

THE CHABIHG-CROSS .RAILWAY.

It is confidently stated that within two years
from the present time the most important public
work which has been projected during a long
period, will, with some suggested improvements,
be completed. We refer to the extension of the
South-Eastern and the railways which terminate at
London-bridge to Charing-cross, the very heart of
the traffic by which they are mainly supplied from
the west of London. The benefits to the rest of the
metropolis and more especially to those parts which
are now its most crowded thoroughfare, which will
be afforded by the construction of this important
work cannot be too highly estimated. Fleet-street,
Ludgate-hill, Cheapside, the Poultry,King William-
street, and the thoroughfares leading into them
will be relieved of more than haif the conveyances
which now carry with infinite loss of time their
passengers to the London-bridge station. The
amount of annoyance and excitement which will be
spared to persons using this railway station will be
something considerable, and it must be bad man-
agement indeed if in futnre excuses are made of
being " too late for the train." Some returns which
have been recently obtained by the South-Eastern
Railway Company, and through the agency of the
officers of the City police, will serve to throw some
light upon the extent of public convenience which
will be provided by this extension. A map of
London was divided into districts by lines drawn
at right angles to the river, midway between
each of the bridges, and the destination of
the passengers was marked into the respective
districts, the return being furnished by the
passengers themselves, either on leaving or return-
ing to London in one day ; a printed form having
been handed to each passenger, with a request that
they would fill it up and deliver it to the ticket col-
lector with the ticket. From these schedules so
filled up, it was found that out of 4,190 cabs which
left the station there were but 807 the destination
of which was in the City. The rest, with the ex-
ception of 579, which went to the south of the
'Thames, and which, to a great extent, were on the
line of the proposed .railway, went westward, and
passed through most of the crowded thoroughfares
which we have mentioned. There were 418 cabs
and 845 passengers for the Blackfriars district, 780
cabs and 695 passengers for the Waterloo district,
1,092 cabs and 897 persons for Charing-cross and
its neighbourhood, 265 cabs and 275 passengers for
Westminster, and 249 cabs and 185 passengers for
Pimlico and Chelsea.
These returns, however, by no means exhaust the
traffic between the West•end and the London-bridge
stations. The omnibuses which ply between these
two points make not less than 2,000 journeys daily,
or 600,000 in the year. To these vehicles is mainly
due the stoppage of the thoroughfares and the de-
lays in making the journey which so constantly
take place. The journey from Charing-cross to
London-bridge almost invariably occupies more
time than would be required to get over half the
distance to Brighton, or one-third of that between
London and Dover. The united stations of
the railways at London-bridge attract tovtards
them during the year not less than thirteen
millions and a half of passengers—a number
nearly equal to the whole population of England,
and any plan which will divert one-half of that
living stream into other and less crowded channels
cannot but be regarded as a great and much needed
public improvement.
The new railway will not only serve the interests
of the public by clearing the thoroughfares of a
moiety of these millions of travellers, and leaving
the streets proportionately more clear for the use
of those who " stay at home," but it will be an im-
mense convenience to the travellers in going to and
returning from their journeys. Charing-cross is
of all places in London that best adapted for a rail-
way station. It is to the west-end what the Bank
and London-bridge are to the east, the great centre
of the traffic. There are Whitehall, the Houses of
Parliament, and Westminster on the south-west ;
Regent-street, Pall-mall, and Piccadilly on the
west ; St. Martin's-lane, Oxford-street, Holborn,
and Tottenham-court-road on the north ; and the
Strand, Fleet-street, and the City on the east;
while the pier at Hungerford places the passengers
in direct communication with the steam-boats on
the Thames. The inhabitants of Greenwich, New-
cross, Lewisham, Blackheath, Woolwich, Graves-
end, and other places on the lines of the Southern
and South-Eastern Railways, will be brought di-
rectly into the midst of the clubs, the the theatres, and
all that pertains to and makes up the celebrity and
attractions of the West-end. As the line in its pro-
gress to Charing-cross will effect a junction with the
South-Western Railway, it will in like manner af-
ford direct access to London-bridge and the City
1 to passengers from Richmond, Putney, Wimbledon,
Hampton, Windsor, and other districts on the South-
Western line. The Crystal Palace traffice, which,
upon occasions of great attraction, blocks up Lon-
don-bridge, and crowds all the thoroughfares of the
City, can pass direct from Charing-cross to the
Palace without the necessity of going through the
City on the one hand, or making the long journey
to Pimlico in the" extreme west, in order to reach
Sydenham by the West-end Crystal Palace line.
This great public improvement will be effected
at a cost of not more than one million, including
the purchase of the required property, the building '
of-the bridge over the Thames, and the construction
of the necessary stations. Of this sum the South-
Eastern Railway proprietors, at their meeting, held
on Thursday last, agreed to subscribe £300,000, the
South-Eastern Company guaranteeing 41 per cent.
upon the amount of the shares. More than half
the required amount of the capital has been sub-
scribed before any application has been made to the
public to take up the shares. There appears to be
no reason for doubting that the estimated cost for
the construction of the line will be exceeded. The
estimates underwent a most extraordinary amount
of scrutiny before the committee of both Houses of
Parliament, and the opposing engineers were per-
fectly ready to admit the sufficiency of the es-
timates. A sum of not less than at the rate
of £l4 per square yard was set down as the
value of the property to be purchased, which
was as much as £6 more than that esti-
mated for the purchase of property required
for making the new street in Southwark, under
the direction of the Metropolitan Board of Works,
and which, in a very great degree, is of the same
description as that which will be taken for the rail-
way on the south side of the river. The purchase
of Hungerford-market has of course swollen the
estimates very considerably, but, as that property
was bought provisionally before the bill was passed
the amount was already known, and was correctly
included in the estimate. Mr. Hawkshaw, the
engineer to the company, is now engaged in the
preparation of the working plans for the bridge
over the Thames. It is proposed that the bridge
shall consist of four lines of rails instead of two, as
originally calculated for in the estimates, and this
will increase the cost of the works by about £60,000.
But it will no doubt be considered advisable by
the board to incur this increased outlay at first,
rather than be compelled, in two or three years at
a much greater, to make the necesssary widening of
the structure. The two existing piers of Hunger-
ford-bridge, which will be used for the new one, arc
of sufficient width, if carried up from their lower
part, to admit of a roadway of four lines of rails.
The footpaths on either side will overhang the
piers. The bridge will be supported by five piers,
and will be as light in its appearance as the nature
of such a work will admit of. In connexion with
the bridge there will be a spacious landing-place
for steam-boat passengers, with a broad flight
of steps conducting to the railway station, and
the footways on each side of the railway
bridge. The revenues derived from foot pas-
sengers, and from persons using the landing
pier, will be the property of the Charing-cross
Company. The arches of the railway will be so
constructed as to admit of their being made tenant-
able, and a revenue of £5,000, it is estimated, will
be derived from that source.
Judging from the traffic returns of short metro-
politan railways, there cannot be much doubt as to
the remunerative character of the undertaking to
those who embark their capital in it. The North
London Railway carried last year nearly 6,000,000
of passengers, the London and South-Western more
than 4,000,000, the Blackwall nearly 5,000,000,
and, as we have already stated, 13,500,000 pas-
sengers passed through the London Bridge sta-
tions. The Charing-cross Railway has now passed
out of the region of probabilities ; its completion is
only a question of time, and supported by such a
powerful company as the South-Eastern Railway,
whose proprietors have already shown their sincer-
ity by a subscription of £300,000, the public have
a guarantee that the railway will be completed as
''Peedily as possible.—Observer.

loughtuarky, and par
GROUSE IN KFItRY —John Sealv, Esq., Mol
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