The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-09
RAILROAD NEWS.
Ideas O. Union Pacific Made
Public in Wall Street.
Road Is Optimistic Over Double
Track Expenditure.
SAFE ESTMENT.
q. P. Thinks Country Will
Grow in Spite of Rates.
Other Items of General Inter-
est in Traffic World.

New York, Feb. 9.-For the enthu-
siasm with which Wall street received
Tuesdays announcement by the Union
Pacific management, that it proposed
to spend $75,000,O0O in the next five
on its. main line, there seemed to be
several reasons Wall street itself
somewhat cynicaIly affirm ed that large
| operators wanted some excuse for
starting an upward movement, and
| took the Union Pacific news as the best
available But there were reasons why
it was available. Other railway man
agements had been protesting that
| they could neither earn dividends nor
| borrow for improvements, so long as
their petition for higher rates was not
Iconceded. The Union Pacific an
| nouncement, after admitting, in a per-
functory way, that suspension of rate
| advances, poor bond markets and high
| er wages would appear to encourage
"curtailment rather than Increased ex-
penditure by railroad managers went
on to say that such handicaps We're
| temporary, that nothing can stop the
country's developme nt, that the coun-
| try needs the new facilities and that in
treat railroad investments just as they
treat all other investments" for the
country's development.
This is precisely what people who
had no axe to grind asserted when the
hysterical cry of tyranny and ruin was
raised by certain other railway man
agements, in response to the govern
! ment's intervention in the wholesale
| pushing up of rates, last summer. But
until some authority in the railway
| field spoke out, the market did not
| feel wholly sure that the 1amentings
of 1910 were not well founded. Such
testimony is now at hand, and it is not
at all strange that wide attention
should be paid to it.
The Union Pacific did. to be sure,
point out that other railroads might
not see their way clear to such under
takings, and that If conditions were to
turn out unfavorable, that company it
self might suspend the work.. But
these exceptions would have to be rec
ognized at any time. The Union Pa
cif1c's attitude had, indeed, a double
significance-it expressed belief that
large expenditures of the sort were
safe and profitable, and that the
money could be raised. This was equiv
alent to expressing reasonable conf
dence in both the bond market and the
railway industry.
Double Tracking.
The proposed disposition of the $75,-
900, 900 new capital is interesting in it
self. Figuring on the needs of double
track is not a matter of haphazard
guess work on the part Of the rail-
was uppermost in the minds of Penn
sylvania officials, the problem was re-
duced to a mathematical certainty.
After months of close study on the
part of experts, it was determined that
a single track road in the territory
served by the Pennsylvania could not
be operated to the best possible adj
vantage when the number of daily
trains exceeded forty eight-that is to
say, twenty-four trains each way. On
different roads the problem assumes
somewhat different, proportions; but
the principles involved are Identical.
A schedule must be arranged to al
| low for trains running at different
] speeds, but going in the same direc-
ton; for the posing of such trains go
ing in opposite directions; finally, for
The picking up and setting off of
freight and passengers with regard to
varying destinations. All of the factors
named have a direct bearing on wages,
fuel, accommodation of public, COM
petition, amount of equipment re-
4 quired, all Of which regulates the re-
| turn on the total investment.
| Under ordinary conditions, a freight
train should finish q hundred-mile run
on a single track road IN ten hours.
| frequently, because of sidetrack de-
! lays, twenty hours, or even more, are
! consumed for such run. That means
! congestion all along the line. with train
crews drawing more pay, locomotives
burning more coal, idle equipment
| against which interest charges are
running day and night: in brief, an
| increase in total operating expenses
| with a corresponding reduction in the
return on capital invested. According
/ to the latest available statistics, the
| railroads operating in three states,
| New York, Pennsylvania, and New
| Jersey, have 1900 miles of second
track, 1900 miles Of third track, and $50
| miles of fourth track The railroads
| operating in Washington, Idaho, Ore
| gon, California, Arizona, New Mexico
| Utah. Texas, and Louisiana have only
422 miles of second track. not single
| mile of third or fourth track.
The Transcontinental Problem.
During the past decade the number
of passengers and tons of freight haul
ed by the Union Pacific per mile Of
| single track operated has increased
| from 70,09S to 152,5S9 and from 537, 1872
| to 1155,577, respectively, whereas the
second track has only increased II
miles to $50. What is true of the in
crease in the Union Pacific's business
is true Of the other transcontinental
roads. That all of the big western
lines are still single track roads is
| shown in the following table:
| Sin Dou- Sin Dou-
| gle BILE. gle. BILE.
| Union Pacific. 6,401 $50 1929 IT
| Southern Pacific. ..1O.077 2ss 7,545 81
At nIfhsT1 Pscif;e g'sSl s9 os 1 11 g
st. Paul. ISL $50 6347 293
1t is only a question of a short time
until all of the foregoing roads win