British Railways Meet The Challenge

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31089, 18 June 1966, Page 13

British Railways Meet The Challenge

/Specialty written for "The Press" by ROGER LASCELLES)

r | HROI ( jHOL T the western world, competition from other forms of transport, plus an aroused public opinion, has forced railway’ administrations to shake up their ideas and get in line with modern thought.

In a modest way, we have seen fairly typical ad j ustments to the New Zealand system —pruning of a few lines, dieselisation, patching up some older stations and the building of one or two new ones.

Our trend is right, though It may be argued that our rate of change could be accelerated a little. This, of course, costs money.

In Britain, the railway system was handicapped additionally by the arch-enemy of progress—an exaggerated respect for poor tradition—and with a combination of dull and unimaginative passenger stock, coal-fired locomotives out-moded equipment, slack service and the most appalling stations, the whole system was behind. Something had to be done.

It is said that “a good administration always anticipates” but worn down by continuing deficits, tied down by tradition and out-moded concepts. and ground down byoutside pressures, the old motives, outmoded equipment, railway hierarchy was past doing very much. An outsider had to be called in as both a trouble-shooter and a catalyst The tale of Dr Beeching has now passed into railway history. An I.C.L director, called in to survey the scene objectively, analyse his findings and to submit his recommendations to the Government, he gave British railwaymen a jolt they haven’t yet got over.

He showed that 10 per cent of the lines produced 90 per cent of the earnings, urged drastic prunings, abolition of duplicated routes, introduc-

tion of freight-liner trains for fast, thief-proof-freighting, and administrative streamlining. All very sensible stuff— but no-one had thought of this sort of thing as a coherent whole before. One of the outstanding changes wrought as a result of this upheaval was the establishment of a design panel to control aesthetics from station architecture down to uniforms and printed matter. This department has proved phenomenally successful, and much of the credit for the new image of “British Rail” can justly be attributed to it

As v an example—to many people today, the word “Coventry” is almost synonymous with the superb new cathedral designed by Sir Basil Spence. A continental mission stepping off the train there was asked, “We suppose you’ve stopped to see the Cathedral?” “No. We’ve come to examine your new station.” Architecturally it is of firstclass international standard and comparable—though on a much smaller scale—with the Central Station at Rome, which, incidentally was financed partly from local taxes, partly from national taxes—like New Zealand airi ports and as New Zealand i railway stations might well I be.

Certainly, there is nothing in New Zealand to come re-

motely near Coventry. It is uncompromisingly modern—not jazzy, stylised modern, but good modern—restrained, intelligent, sensitive design. Glass, masonry, steel and wood, used to give a spacious elegance that is about as far from the average New Zealander’s ideas of station architecture as the man in the moon. At present, the same policy is being pursued at Euston, and I cautiously express the view, for no perspective drawings have yet been released, that the new Euston station could be one of the outstanding terminals of the world when it is finished in 1969. Carriages If station design has had a well-deserved and overdue fillip, it is nothing to what has happened to carriage design. The older mechanical engineers were upset when it was suggested that they should work with outside design consultants and fought a fairly stiff rearguard action—some were outspokenly resentful—so the administration, in effect, held a shotgun wedding. The effect on rolling stock design was instant, dramatic and far reaching.

The most notable changes have been long double-glazed panorama windows; seats covered in rich tweeds and housed in shells of reinforced, hard-wearing plastics; carefully and well-handled trim; convenient, overhead aircraft type reading lights; increased sound proofing against track noises, and greatly improved lighting and general interiors. Externally, the livery has been handled much more effectively and the dark red colour—never attractive—has at last been given the kiss of death and replaced by royal blues, pale greys and other colours. With smoother lines, the coaches can be washed down faster and better, too. To their credit, one of the truly great advances has come from the mechanical engineers. After research on bogie design and the whole ambit of suspension systems, British Railways’ engineers have come up with radical new bogies, designated 84. which are cheaper, lighter and appreciably better than any other type used previously.

Whether the fresh look at so many aspects of rolling stock design has triggered a change in some of the engineers, I don't know, but now, having launched the B 4 bogies, they have already produced a B 5 with heavier springing and are studying models involving air suspension.

The cumulative effect of all this has been to put British Railways back into the world league as far as carriage design is concerned. The “clicketty-click” business is over. Today with concrete sleepers and a new railfastening system, literally miles of rail can be welded together to give a travelling sound like a long-drawn-out “whish.” It is a welcome and wonderful change. Civil engineers too, have mastered the banking of tracks in such a way as virtually to eliminate sway and lurch, and the combined impact of better track

banking, long welded rails and substantially improved suspension will bring about a rebirth of passenger traffic. Semaphore type signals are out —and I must confess that I never really knew how they were “in.” The modern tree or four-light “multiple aspect” colour signalling has taken over and permits higher speeds because of the greater detail it gives of running conditions on the line ahead. High-intensity lighting sited at driver’s-eye height along the track penetrates better through fog and murk and plays a vital part in the “New Railway.” As a secondary safeguard—a primary one in bad fog—an alarm-horn sounds in the control cab in place of the bell which rings when the track ahead is clear. Locomotives Powered from a 25,000 volt AC overhead copper contactwire, the 3600 h.p. electric locomotives can haul 450-ton passenger trains at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. legally, even faster illegally. Driving controls though not yet of five-star standard have been cleaned up considerably and the engine exteriors are comparable with, or even better than some of the modern West German locomotives I have seen lined up at the main station in Muhich—and that’s an impressive array.

Many of the electric locomotives still carrv the appalling old British Railways crest of cast aluminium which features a demi-lion rampant holding a wheel with its paws—the whole arising from a crown. This “everything - but-the-kitchen - sink” niece of mongrel heraldry is to be replaced bv the crisp new insignia which is appearing everywhere under the new regime. What now? With rolling

stock of the modern type and capable of sustained high speeds, the answer probably rests in the advancement of terminal facilities which will attract, not repel, custom. Bleak, unwelcome stations with cast-bronze fittings, marble-lined halls, pokey ticket windows and all built to pre-war architectural concepts will certainly not attract passengers, and although good modern stations will help, more are needed. Another department ripe for improvement is the hiring of rental vehicles at one’s destination station. This is 1966. Time is money and distance is cost I suggest that the time has come to build car-hire facilities into the principal railway stations in New Zealand. Ideally, one should be able to reach the car-hire counter within 30 seconds of leaving the railway carriage. Everything should be done too, to make vehicle-hire faster and simpler. Example For N.Z. New Zealanders, have always had a keen interest in transport. Our roads are outstanding. Our inter-island ferries will soon be of a very high standard indeed. Our internal airline is watched over 2.6 million shareholders and our external airline has a rosy future.

Our railways are still something of a problem. Obviously we can learn from Britain’s example in this particular case, but there may be lessons too to be learnt from other countries—useful lessons from which we can evolve general principles and implement effective changes. To build up passenger traffic, some of the points I have enumerated will be enough to start readers thinking about New Zealand applications. Our latest carriages are of

1939 vintage—a great way to attract passengers. The uniforms are a joke, a rare combination of gardening pants and yachting jackets. Our station architecture is abysmally bad. Public relations are non-existent. But there is no real .cause for despair, because all of these faults can be remedied given a combination of enthusiasm and goodwill.

And the first step? An informed and awakened public opinion in New Zealand. We must start by bringing our standards up to date—by finding out just exactly what other advanced countries are up to; and then, having charted our course, we must set out in hot pursuit in the hope not only of' catching them up, but also passing them. And why not?