SUBURBAN TRAINS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 559, 14 July 1909, Page 8

SUBURBAN TRAINS.

REVISION OF TIME-TABLE DESIRED. VALUE OF STEAM MOTOR' SEEVICE. , Sovoral matters relating to tho suburban train sorvico were brought under the notico of/tho Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister for Railways) by Mr. Wilford, M.P., yesterday. ■ ■■ ■ ' '••■' ■. : '- ■■• ■ ■ ■ Mr. Wilford stated v that, at • present, a workers' train left Lower Hutt for the city at 7.11 a.m. It was called the "fast.train," and.stopped only at Petone. 'This train was poorly patronised. ; There was a second train which ' loft at 7.19, whiclr stopped at all stations, and this one * was always' overcrowded. What was desired was that a ( train should leave Lower Hutt at 7.15 oi , ' 7.18 and stop at all stations. There should, l>o a. fast train leaving at 7.30, and arriving in the city at 7.60. Tho duplicated < line would be open ae far as Kaiwarra in about a weok, and .ho had been promised that,when that time came, there snould be a reconsideration of the time-table. What was really wanted, continued Mr. Wilford, was a eteam motor service every/twenty- minutes. The motor carriages, which'would contain tho engine, would hold about seventy passengers, and he added • that that kind of Bcrrice had come into regular nee in America, Germany, and Great Britain. He understood that the Minister bad been furnished with a reportof the .discussion on the subject before the - Institute of Engineers in England. The cars ■ would cost about half as much as an ordinary railway, engine.' With a duplicated line there was no reason why such a.' service should, not bo effective as a suburban electrical Jramway service. • The Hon. J.. A. Millar,\in reply, eaid that the present service was a fairly .good one, but he intended to improve on it. He was, going into, the question of a steam motor service, whioh system seemed to have'been .successful ■■ in the Old Country in thicklypopulated districts as well as in sparsely-' settled ones. At the present time no waa getting estimates as to the cost of working, etc.' ..-:-. '■■ ' ■'-.. ■■''•■ ' . '; " Subsequently, in the course of the proceedings, the Minister explained that a steam motor service did not ao away with the necessity - for heavy trains. Between Lower Hutt and tho city, for instance, there would require' to be heavy trains in the morning as at present.' There would, however, bo no need'for a.heavy' train at midday, for the steam motor service would suffice. Under the,new system cars got up epeed as quickly as electric cars, and. ooula bei stopped just as easily. They wore'made to seat from forty to seventy-passengers. The cost ranged from £ICOO to £2600 apiece according to size and power. Their rate of speed was up to thirty-five miles per honr. "That ie tho solution of the problem'so far as the Hutt line ie concerned," added. ■ ' ._-■ :