New-York tribune., 1922-06-11
Southern Europe
Railroading
(Continued from Page touyj

sumption Of the lines by the process of .l...,
fying one-third Of their mileage ouzbt :.
resent very considerable economy n ~
lines; even over the costs of the ian ~ ~
economies arc quite necessary 70 a sy,,... :.
state railways that has been in cons,ss, -,
melancholy deficit since its institution ,...'
thirty years ago.
II Is an odd commentary that under go.
rail transport operation, as compared -
private, there is almost always ine,.,..,
deficit in earning power, no matter % v,tt
corner Of the world you may 90; while. q, u.
other hand, state operation is apt % br,,,.
larger Wsion--more real progress TIA, :,
vate. In our own United States have =.
few railroad executives come forward -
definite plans for large electrlhcatios, -.
most Of them seem 10 be enyeloped IN a.,
Of fog In regard 10 the whole problem AL,
evidenced by their apparent inability 70 49,.
definitely in a single matter, in h. riv,l
claims between direct-current and the w,.,,l !,
alternating current systems.
If the electrihcation Of the railroads IN mV.
Europe had not great economic sdyar,sss
as their justification, the many thousand, !,
travellers who travel annually between Ia,
and France and Switzerland, and who IN !,
doing must thread the tremendous tlrre,, :,
Simplon Mt. Cents OF St. Gotthard that sIsr,.
the high Alps and connect these countr,,
still would call " blessed. As said IN A.
"a.
bore Of Simplon-the worlds creates, r,s.
road tunnel-would have been an impossibll.,
without electric motive power. Old traysl,r,
still shudder as they think OF the horrors q
Mt. Cents Of an earlier day--or Of the s.
Gotthard.
Yet the Mt. Cents route still has i,s -
horrors to-day. II the traveller rolls throsgs
the eight miles Of the pioneer tunnel toward
France in comfort and joy, he will be ROBBED
Of most Of his joyousness az the little Frerd
border town Of Modane.
Just why a customs examination FOR 4.
traveller bound from France % Italy, Or u.
reverse, cannot be conducted as quickly s-d
as simply and thoroughly as those between
Canada and the United States, am at loM
TO know. Yet l am willing. from personal
experience, 70 aver that at the very end q
April 1922, when vast number Of tourists
were returning north from Italy !, was rot
To the patrons Of the so-called de lure trains
of the international Sleeping Car COMPANY
the process is fairly easy one. They haT
their baggage inspected within the cars iss
as at our Canadian border, and are not eva
compelled now to alight at the border siarz
The only visible reminder that now hisS
passing out Of France was the unannOu4
visit Of the customs officers 20 1880 a. n -
the compartment in which my wife and EE'
sleeping, or trying to sleep. The fact "a
we had locked the compartment door on ni
inside was as nothing 20 oiticadom wa'a
had keys that opened all barriers.
But the return TO France Modane' Is
evening train up from the Italian piainsFs1
into the long covered station az that f-'
town at ten minutes Of seven. Il IS has
train and crowded-some ten or twelve car
riages and sleeping car bound through fron
Rome to Paris. The sleeping car IS ero"ded
1t always is. | have dilated already upon l'e
constant shortage Of sleeping car serTe 0''.
here. The Italian State Railways is ne aiss''
singy-operated system in Europe-eyen N u'
United States it would loom large WITH "
5000 miles of line-yet but twenty-eisH'
sleeping cars are allotted TO it, all told
RETURN to Modane. (Ahhougn nope ~. "
~ be spared forever returning there ln'
$3.50 p. m. train is in from TURN ana ~.
hundred passengers, each anxious 70 get 's''
a little ahead of his fellows, are being neroe'
into a succession of small and dirty rooms J"
the overcrowded depot there. There are 10
directions, either printed or verbal Il IS n'
and miss-and generally miss. There are no'
more than twelve or fifteen por.ers 70 hanas
the two hundred tired dirty, dinnerless a''
cross folk from the train and three cus'ons
inspectors. Count 'em-three. First hoT
ever, you are finally herded past the passpa'
man, in a little room so dark that he cam"
really see your passport at all, but Just l'I
down upon il rubber stamp that IS 50 as''
and so weary Of life that il has long Hn.'
ceased to make any definite impressions AZ ~
After that formality, the customs. The th'"
little Frenchmen are tired, very tired. M''v
over, they, too, are dnnerless. They op''
about one bag in ten, and then in most 20
functory fashion. The customs examina'A,
is no examination at adjust the nuisance
carrying the luggage of the cars and o.s
again-all to no real purpose. After al ~
you dine-if you have any heart for It.
AT Genoa the English certainly did at e''