New-York tribune., 1909-03-17
A WE'LL BUILT TUNNEL
IT'S EFFICIENCY PROTED.
george S. Rice Tells Realty Men
4bout Strength Of BrookIyH Tube.

George : Rice engineer Of subway construction
to the Public Service Commission, spoke last nigHt
on Transportation Facilities OF The Greater CITY
81 the session Of the Real Estate School Of the
West Side branch 81 The Young Mems Christian
Association. No. 800 West 9TH street Besides me
regular members ~ the class. there we're present
q number Of well known engineers who nave been
Identified with subva< and river tunnel ConstrIc-
-iar IN various uarts % this country 1t Is Gus
tom Of the class TO lombard the speaker with
questions after MS address. and no exception To
that rule was made last night
Nearly every person present showed desire to
have lgh hi shed on questions relating To trans
ror,stion i'm this city. and FOR over an hour Mr.
Rice stood OH The platform of the auditorium in
which the meetings are hold and answered qnes-
tiou- The lecture was prnfus"iy illustrated by
stereoptirnn Views which showed the building of
the subway az various sections Of the city and
also the methods employ ed a constructing the iun-
mel from the Battery 10 brooklyn.
Nj Rice said ln part. as follows:
IA The tirua Of the building of The tunnel from
the Battery 20 Brooklyn mau5 persons had loudly
Expressed themselves regarding It's construction
some sad IT faulty. and other things reflect
ing On the character IF Jhe work there The pur-
nose Of those criticisms Wei known Z" persons
who had 10 bear the Iruut of the attacks. The
proof Of the pudding is I'm tbe eating is indeed q
rtie saving and -ir@ has clearly demonstrated how
bitter 4uI how unjust We're those opinions Through
that tunnel daily, few minutes apart eight
car trains weighing about four hundred tons each,
and t speed NaI lllA from ll4AN l' aiN'N ii'i''7
an hour "a takes We'll built tunnel 20 stand the
,.ear and tear % sUeA traffic and do not know ot
n,auv other tunnel routes which have given such a
positive proof of efficiency.
.Joreover there are number Of tunnel routes
which could not furnish suca high speed service.
4 uereon present wanted know If there was
any danger Of trains IN the tunnel jumping the
track while running at sixty miles an houI MI
Rice quickly replied In q Journey from Inc
Bronx 10 Flatbusn station. what might he con-
srferad the safest distance of the route Hes he
tween the Battery and the Brooklyn shore The
trains ran between walls OF cement from one shore
to the other and If they should get Of the track
they would continue forward without serious dam
age TO the cars ard would I a stop
Another person wanted TO know if the operation
of subway trains could not he improved by doubling
the capacity Of the platforms and doubling the
number Of cars each train. At present the
trains are eight each. Mr.. Rice answered this
query by saving: ON average eight thousand
cars pass each station daily in both directions,
making a total of sixteen thousand cars passing
each station each day. The seating capacity OF
these cars is greater than the daily number of
pa sseuEers If the passengers could arrange their
time Of travel I'm the subway there would likely
he no such problem congestion al rush hours
/ to solve nut such arrangement of travel Is out
the question"
The present Subway was built to accommodate
trains OF eight cars and it would be impossible TO
double the capacity of the platforms or increase
greatly the size OF the trains remember a sug-
gestion which made some years ago that
trains of much greater length than eight cars be
run over a subway route, and that the ears be
known as either red. white blue, or other col
ors Thus a man desiring TO 20 To a certain sta
ton which was known blue station would get
into a coOred car. or. II TO IA station of an
other color in another coored This scheme
Of operating trains fashioned somewhat after
a moving platform, and was not seriously consid-
cred by local transit experts
Another person asked II il would he profitable 20
extend the subway from Van Cortlandt Park to
Youkers and charge a scent fare for ride from
Yonkers to the eastery terminus of the subway
route in Brooklyn. Mr.. Rice said that he did not
see how such addition 20 the subway route
could be profitably built on such fare basis.