SAFETY FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 26 June 1936, Page 14

SAFETY FIRST.

RAILWAYS IN N.S.W. HIGH SPEEDS IMPOSSIBLE. £1,000,000 EXPENDITURE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY. June 18. The Railway Department has announced that to complete the laying of heavy rails between Cootamundra and Alburv will cost £1,000,000. Provision for at least the commencement of the work will be made in next year's allocation of £1,250,000 for '•improvements." AVhen the heavy rails are laid, the Department will be able to use the large 57-class engines, which have a greater hauling power than the engines now running, but are too heavy for the existing track. As a consequence of this, outlay it is expected that the time over the New South AVales section of the express route to Melbourne will be reduced by an hour. It seems a very small improvement to purchase at such a price, but as a matter of fact the average speed of the Melbourne express will then be only about 45 miles per hour. The new Diesel engines are being designed to run up to 70 miles per hour, but this will be on the flat, on easy grades, on the southern line near Goulburn, and on tile western line on the Emu Plains near Penrith. People, generally speaking, have a inost exaggerated idea of the rate at which railway trains travel, especially in this country. The Caves express is locally termed the "flier," but it averages only 35 miles,-per hour. The fastest train in this State is the Inter-City Express, which runs between Sydney and Newcastle, arid does the whole distance —over 100 miles —at 50 miles per hour. Of course these rates do not approach the best speed of European and American trains. Speeds of Over 100 Miles Per Hour. Streamlined and constructed mostly of alumiMum alloy, trains now dash between the cities of America and Europe at 100 miles per hour and more. Between Chicago and Denver the express averages 70 miles, and is capable of reaching 112 miles per hour. The BerlinHamburg train reaches 100 miles per hour on the flat, and in Holland—a particularly. level country—Bo miles an hour is not uncommon. While we may sympathise with the modern passion for epeed, and may admire such at a distance, we cannot hope to'seejplie'm approached here. The other day our Railway Commissioner, Mr. Hartigan, told a representative of the "Daily Telegraph" that no matter what we may (spend on our railway lines we will never be able to attain such speeds. The reason, of course, is that the contours of the country necessitate not only many; steep grades, but a disproportionately large number of sharp curves. Obviously it is impossible to maintain a high speed Avhile rounding curves, for the tendency of centrifugal force would be to send thte train off the line into space. Largely for this reason our Railway Department has substituted for the popular slogan, "Speed up," the more judicious policy of "Safety First!" In one sense ii may be said that those who direct the construction administration of our lines have simply made a virtue of necessity. It should be a source of national satisfaction, however, to know that, as Mr. Hartigan said the .other day, "it is many years since a passenger was killed bv a train accident in this State, and there is not a railway in the world with a better safety record."