The sun., 1912-07-14

Aorough Investigation. General Mama
ger Hedley and his staff OF experts were
conservative, cautious. almost sceptical.
1hsy had taken hold of the subway seven
or eight years ago when it was not much
more than hole in the ground-a hole
in the ground without signals. inter
locking terminals. n Thousand things
and had patiently developed it into O great
model railroad. They did not propose
to make any mistake now, either of gong
too far or Of not going far enough.
There were innumerable things they
wanted to know. and they have found them
out; questions of signals. station stops.
drawbars. brakes. terminals. break
downs. delays. costs. They find. as every
other competent investigator Of the plan
has found. that as in all plant enlargements
there are many details which must be ad-
justed to thu ~ew standard. many minor
points which must be strengthened or
improved. but there are no serious diff
culties in the way. They have found
that electrified steam railways are to-day
operating. successfully and without w.
usual troubles. trains longer and muN/
heavier than fifteen car subway train
would be. and doing it without the in
stantaneous brake with which all subway
trains are equipped.
Other competent Investigators have
made studies with similar conclusions
In fact. the only remaining differences
Of opinion appear to be- as to detail,
and IA to the extent to which the new
method should be applied in the old and
new subways.
Some engineers have discussed the adj
visibility Of not trying to go above ten cars
per train on the express tracks. but OF
bringing the local trains up to the same
length. Others point out that the only
advantage in this would be to say
length ming some of the platforms in the
in comparison to the advantages to be
gained by putting the most Of the increase
of capacity where it should be. on the
express tracks.
II is argued by these mon that the true
{ motion Of rapid transit line l. to carry
the people where and when they wish
to be carried and at the highest speed the
circumstances will properly admit that
operation with high speed secured by
long runs is much cheoper than low speed
with short runs; that therefore il il "a the
interest of both the public and the oper-
ator to minimize AS much IA possible
, the inferior. more costly service and to
magnify as much as possible the superiO .
more economic service, and that IN the
final analysis the people will not travel
by "A slow train when they can get fast
one
The weight Of argument appears to he
with those who advocate expansion OF
capaci v on both tracks, And on the basis
o fifteen car expresses and ten car locals
AZ representative enlargement from
ten and six cars respectively carefully
made figures reach these results II the
pro jected lnterborough system ne fin
ished on the present or short train basis
the construct ion cost of c III and new lines
together will he $3.50 900 percar of capacity
one way per hour on the trunks. while
il the lines re enlarged for the longer
trains the const ruCt ion cost will bc only
sl07. 400 per car of capacity. In otbsr
words. u n or per cent, Increase of IN.
const str,iction cost will yield u I? per cent
Increase of car capacity,
One great and revolutionary signie
canoe Of the new method IL that il ln<
within tiT power Of the city Cf New York,
through this great stop forward IN the
relation l"tNr"n capa, lty and costs. to
NS u standard Of puhli' comfort a nAxi-
man oi congestion wli'h snlil not IN
exceeded, and then construct enough
lines To- 'Nalniain that standari for the
benefit u the people without inaictind
'direct b9dens upon the taxpayeU. ',