The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-09-06
England Turns From Trains
To Trucks to SOIUe Rail 7ie-ub

, to secure the heavy goods trafic for
| the railways IN free competition with
barges and sea ships.
The trouble is this: Our railways
demands. Originally they were built
for a mixed traffic OF passengers and
goods. But new era has arisen OF
mass traffic. America has to some
extent recognized this. BY strength
enlng bridges, widening tunnels, abol-
ishing curves and Ieveing gradients,
the American railroads have prepared
the way for handling goods In gigantic
quantities. In this country the ten-ton
truck is the standard vehicle, while the
average truck In the United States
takes fifty tons, and mineral trucks
carrying 100 tons are common.
It is obviously cheaper to transport
5000 tons OF coal IN single train with
a single engine than to forward 1t in
ten trains with twenty engines. Twenty
repair and as many repairers as a sin
gle one. and ten trucks require ten
times as many shunters, bookkeepers,
etc, as a single giant truck Our rail-
ways now require repanning and re-
building throughout and the raising OF
prices and little improvements here and
there will not alter their fundamental
shortcomings.
Must Rebuild for Future.
II will not suffice to replan and re-
build them for the requirements Of the
present day. We must reckon with the
possibility that passenger and goods
traffic will continue increasing In the
future as 1t has In the past. We must
cease mixing up fast passenger and
slow goods traffic. for the two Will not
goods and for passengers. II we have
special passenger lines we can send
over them any number OF trains with
out being constantly hampered by slow
moving goods trains II we have spe-
cial freight lines, our freight trains
need no lonrer be delayed by fast pas |
senger trains, II on the important
traffic lines we have two sets OF rails
for good trains only we can move over
them at the most convenient speed as
many trains as we like. One train may
closely follow the other. Moreover, 1t
would not be necessary to have the
present standard gauge, but we might |
take broad one, which would enable
us to handle trains carrying 5000 or
10000 tons OF material No canal can
possibly handle so vast a quantity Of
goods as a well-planned freight rail-
way reserved for goods trains only.
Could Trim Rates.
Mr.. walter Rathenau, the eminent
director OF the Allgemeine Elektrizitats
Gesellschaft, by far the largest cleo
trical combination in the world. called
into being an expert organization for
studying the problem of freights. and
came to the conclusion that by con-
structing special railways for mass
traffic we can. according to conserva
tive anticipations, reduce freight rates
to one half, and to one quarter Of the
cheapest freight rates existing at pres
ent. and such special railways should
be cheaper to construct than canals,
and be more profitable and more eff
clent." The promised reduction of
freights Is worth nothing. as well as
the forecast that canals could not COM
pete with such. special railways. Before
the war Germany had by far the cheapy
est freight rates in Europe. Her canal
rates were far cheaper than her rail-
way rates. All North Germany Ia a
level plain. IT Is intersected by deep
and gently flowing rivers. In that
1t is easy to construct canals
without locks. While on English water
ways barges of 100 tons are consid
cred large, the German waterways are
commonly used by barges carrying
900. 1000 and even 5000 tons. Our
railway troubles may be permanently
solved by rebuilding the lines and sepa
rating altogether the goods and pas
senger traffic. Unfortunately, such re-
will cost hundreds OF mil
ions of pounds. However the gigan
tic expenditure should prove a most
valuable investment.