The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-14
ECONOMY NEEDED.
On Both the New
York Central and
the Albany.
IN TRANSPORTATION COST.
Combining the Roads Will
Mean Big Saving
Each Year.

From the latest returns of the New
York Central and the Boston and AL
bany companies respectively, some
figures are CLEANED that will be of in
terest in view of the prospective alb
sorption of the local road by the New
York corporation.
Important differences as weII.as re-
semblances between the two lines are
apparent. The most significant of all,
so far as the prospects for the lessee
are concerned, is in the comparative
statement of expenditures for mainten-
ance of way and structures per mile
Of road. In 1898 the Boston and Albany
put into its roadbed, track, bridges.
stations and other buildings. and tbe
extinction of grade crossings of high
ways, no less than $3737 per mile. The
expenditures of the New York Contra
IN the same department amounted fo
oHly 1850 per mile, Notwithstanding
NE Iact mat the Central has 800 miles
Oh Iour-track line, as against Soma %
miles of such line on the Alhanv Nc
reason exists for doubling the sufficien-
cy Oh the CentraPs maintenance. IT'S
pant certainly is kept in good ayera pc
condition. In 1898, indeed. a prea
many improvements of .permanent
VaIue We're made upon its station and
shop buildings, although no extraordin-
ary renewals of rails were reported A
Lalr presumption is that the New York
Sehtral VIII put out no more money in
ms tLls department upon the Albany line
lnan II now extends upon it's own lines
hence probable saving of $1,000 r.
SSOOO per mile is indicated. or. saw s750 :
OOO per annum in toto.
IN cost of conducting TRANSFORMATION
the companies stand upon practically
the same plane. Neither the Central
nor the Albany is operated so econoJn-
leally as some other important lines
Inc understanding is, however thai
PRESIDENT Getaways administration is
saving money for the Central in this
department, and the Albany two or
tnree years hence, under Central direc-
tion is likely to show better reenlts
IMAM at present. In equipment expend-
lures the Central of late has been
much more liberal than the ALBANY Tie
general expenses consume also a lave
er proportion of the gross earnings
ehough neither company is economicai
in this field - u d
The Boston & Albany's gross earn
lngs per mile of road are much greater
Lhah the Centrafs, the figures for 1898
penn $zS,459 and $1S,2S4, respectively
me Aloanys strength lies almost
wholly in the passenger department
Inc freight earnings of the two roads
per mile were close together, but the
Albany had passenger earnings Ger
mile OF Sl1,260, as against $3.50 for th a
new York Central. In density of pas-
senger traffic, in fact, the Boston &, Al
oany stands at the head of all Anori-
can lines. In 1898 it carried nearly 5g2
700 persons one mile per mile of ro,d7
as against a passenger density of only
$4,000 on the New York Central. H.
Ierrlng to the interstate commerce COM
missions figures for 1895, it appears
mat the passenger density of the Pos
ton q Albany was 547,0 persons car
RED one mile per mile of road. the psxt
companies in order being the New
YORK. New Haven and Hartford. with
density of 100000; the Long Island.
10000; the Boston and Maine, 344. 600:
the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Ba!t1-
more division of the Pennsylvania. 305.-
600; and then the New York Central
$4,000. 1t will be observed that the
passenger density of the New York
Central increased between 1895 ana 1898,
while that of the Albany, due chiefly
" tTOlley competition, Tell Off.
In the handling Of freight the New
York Central, for reasons which per-
haps on the whole reflect no discrelit
upon the Albany management, shows
much the greater economy. The Albany
secured in 1898 freight train loads aver
aging 1877 tons, but the Central put 299
tons into an average train load. Ae-
cordingly, although the Centrals aver
age ton mile rate was only 81 mills.
against S.3 mills for the Albany. the
former showed freight train mile earn
ings of $1S3, against only $1.6S on the
Boston and Albany. In the passenger
department, as might be expected, pre-
ciselv the opposite results are shown,
The Central gets average passenger
fares of 1.S6 cents per mile, but has
average train loads Of only AZ passen-
gers and average passenger train mile
earnings of $1.07 The Albany, al oh
it's average passenger fares are only
1 ga cents per mile, with it's denser
travel. averages 70 persons to each
train. and gets an average revenue of
s1.46 for each mile run by passenger
trains.