The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-27

When the digging Is ALI ended ana tne
streets from the Post Office to The Bronx
made tidy again after four years OF chaos
and filth. We will have very fine subway
indeed.
EVERYBODY il agreed on that point. even
though many people who have studied
,he question think we could have had just
AZ good an underground railroad with
ureat deal less inconvenience. Foreign
visitors predict that it will be world beater
and arc filed with admiration for 1t, even
In It's incomplete state. though they shake
heir heads over what We have gone through
10 pet 1t, and doubt il their own people
would endure so much as patiently as have
New Workers
There isn't any doubt that in equipment,
In the size Of its stations, in the multitude
NJ devices introduced for the public SAFETY
md convenience and In the general plan
81 it's interior arrangements this under
ground road will come as near to perfec-
lion al an underground railroad anywhere
in the world has done SO far.
II will be bigger and better ventilated
and better lighted than Londons 'tup-
penny tubes It will be all that and safer
also than the Paris undergre und, and 1t
IA On a far more ambitious scale than Bos-
tcn's subway.
For one thing, since the general plan OF
The subway was decided upon. its managers
awe had the advantage Of examining the
tunnels recently built by other people and
81 proflting by their mistakes. There
vas the awful lesson Of the Paris under
ground railway disaster to teach the New
Workers to make their cars a. hreprool
ls possible and to see that the ventilation
was good. They have needed the warn
Ing.
There were the horrors Of several under
ground collisions-one in the New York
Central tunnel right close at hand-to
teach them that the signal system could
not be too carefully planned, and that the
safeguards against accident could not be
too numerous. They have learned that.
too. ....
Then there have been the daily crush on
the elevated stations, the jam at the Bridge
the discomfort of the packed cars on the
existing city railroads to remind them
constantly that the trains could not be
too commodious, the stairs from the street
too wide nor the underground platforms
too spacious for the demands upon them.
Those who are In the confidence OF the
subway managers believe that in these
respects also they have tried to make their
railroad all that 1t should be, and that as
far a. human ingenuity could plan so big
and so comparatively new an enterprise
in advance they have succeeded in this
"a in the other things.
The city practically gave the subway
bpilders a free hand. 1t was crying for
rapid transit at any cost. There was no
haerlinr over the terms, and from the first
the profits assured from the undertaking
were seen to be large. All that has been
demanded in exchange was a satisfactory
we'll equipped railroad, capable OF carrying
New York's millions more comfortably
and more speedily than they had been
carried, from home to work and back again.
Everybody knows by this time the gen
eral plan OF the subway-its four track
main line and it's double tracked branches
further uptown; It's many stations, deco
rated in brick red, green and white; it's loop
station at the City Hall and the many tun.
nels to extend from it at some later date
TO all parts Of the city. Here are some
details OF the equipment now in prepara'
ton for carrying passengers safely and IN
comfort.
I, is u!srna % WI I. TIE sub Tsy express
trains OF eight cars each at the rate OF SA'
car "a b orr in each Erection ihe cars ere
built to seat 50 lersons each and III emer'
aency without being packed to sunocatton'
to carry, seated and standing, 30 persons
Altogether. The road, therefore, will bt
eUuipped to transport $4,000 persons az
hour. seated; or in crowded hours to NOV
5000 an hour. in a single direction.
Now suppose that passenger II
starting from any one OF the subwa.
stations. He descends by broad marble
etairway to a level only few feet below
the street surface.
He will pass either through turnstil
or BY a ticket window and chopping boz
chat il a detail not yet worked out
TO a large semicircular platform. Thu
tracks form the diameter side OF TIT
semicircle, and the double stairway from
onposite sides OF the cross street comes
down at the back midway in the ourv
~ the semicircle, the platform taperin
of on either side.
The platforms in the ordinary station
AZ distinguished from the bigger stoppin
places. such as those at the City Hal
and At the Columbus Circle. will be iron
twenty to thirty feet wide in the middle
taperine OF to a width Of about nine fee
at the ends. To New Workers., accustome
to the nine, ten and twelve foot platform
Of the elevated stations these will seer
big indeed.
The stations are being lined with whit
and olive green glazed brick relieved wit
terra Gotta friezes near the roof. They ar
lighted by natural light from above, will
electricity to help out where need be.
AMI the walls will not be disigured b
advertisements, as are the undergrou n
stations in London and Paris. On eac
platform will be lavatories and the neces
sary newsstand. A double stairway wi
lead to each platform.
As TO ventilation, this ID expected to b.
the most airy underground road in tn
world. Tho stations are % near together
the tunnel itself IL No wide and the stair
ways will be 80 large that the passage
tho trains 10 expected to keep the air Il
circulation and provide all the fresh al
needed.
But ventilation u q problem which mus
be worked out by practice rather than b
theory The subway Is 80 near the surface
except in two deep rock tunnels, that be