Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-07-03
Uolie4 TRAVEL EXPENSIVE.
Wy lsass - Fan Fer feDe.Sess -
Rsvixhs Are So High

Freight Are So High
The eminen. English railway author
ify, Mr.. William NJ Acworth. points OUT
many causes for the differences between
railways in this country and the United
States. The higher rate Of charges On
English ruasls are thus explained.
The very large capital outlay Of Eng
hsh railways is Of course one n,ain resl-
eon Of the high standard Of rates and
fares IN England Exactly how high
that standard is we have no means OF
knowing, for Cur railway STATISTICS
made up in form that was iaid DOWN
by an act Of parliament about ~ years
back, carefully suppress the information
that it is most necessary for US to have
Ton miles and passenger miles are not
here recorded. We know that each ton
OF goods carried pays the railways ON the
average about 90 cents. If we guess that
the average distance is about p miles, We
arrive at an average rate OF 2 10 cents per
ton mile. which is not very Tar from
three times the average rate IN the
United States. So in the case Of I';tssen-
gers we may guess that the average fare
Is about lss5 per mile, which though
lower than the American average, Is
higher than in any European country.
Such result seems very far from salts
factory. High cost Of construction might
have justified a high range OF rates ana
fares at the outset, but year by year the
pr mile Of hue open increases IN den
sity, and ~ ,ae goods rates hardly come
down at all-ln the last year or two their
tendency has been all the other way
while the passenger fares only come
down very slowly.
And vet the explanation is not far TO
seek. Our services have Away been ex-
pensiye to work. They are becoming
more expensive year by year. In Amer
lea traiuloads are mainly limited by the
capacity Of the engines-ours by the
weight Of goods or number of passengers
that have had time to accumulate i'll the
very short interval between one tram
and another. Let me illustrate: II
man is sailing from New York To En-
rope, he will choose his favorite line or
his fayorite boat, regardless of the time
Of day or day of the week at which 1t
starts. On the other hand, if the Ian-
haitian elevated were to try to run its
trains only once III 10 minutes Ill the
slack hours vi the day the street cars
would rtil, it Of the bulk of its passen-
gers.
Now, in England our business is all
between places which in America would
be regarded as close together. We call
Manchester the north of England" yet
Manchester is only A. hours from Lon
don. Consequently there must be trains
between the two points at all hours OF
the day, to suit the convenience of pas
sengers wanting to 90 at any time Con-
sequently, too. each train runs with very
much less than "A trainload of passen-
gers. Then these trains must be run at
high speeds. for though few minutes
more or less are Of little Importance III a
Journey of hundreds of miles, IA quarter
of an hour out of four hours is a very
considerable percentage. High speeds
mean few stops, and few stops mean adj
ditional trains to serve the second class
stations. Then high speeds and frequent
expresses for passengers mean mSh
speeds and short trains for good-that
is, half loatled-engines for an engine
loaded to ts full capacity moves SO
slowly-occupies the line, that is, for so
long period-that it is impossible to
find room for it.
But it would not be true to say that
the goods are worked at high speed sim
ply for the convenience of the railway
management. On the contrary, the de-
mand for speed in the case Of nerchan-
disc traffic is fully abreast of that in the
case of passengers. Broadly, it may be
said that the English goods service is
based on the supposition that, between
important towns at least. whatever is
handed to the railway company at the
forwarding station over night will be de
livered to the consignee the first thing
next morning. Now, a service such AS
this, in the nature of things, can never
be cheap one Engineering Magazine.