SYDNEY'S TRAFFIC

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 151, 23 December 1926, Page 11

SYDNEY'S TRAFFIC

THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY

FIRST SECTION COMPLETED.

(From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, 16th December. Histoiy was made in Sydney a day or two ago when the first olectrio train mado a trial journey on that section of the underground railway so far completed, that is, as far as St. James's station, at the northern end of Hyde Park, in preparation for the opening oi' tho line for traffic before Christmas. It will now take people a shade over two and a half minutes to get from the Central station to St. James's, in the heart of the city. Under, ordinary conditions it takes them easily that time to alight from a train at _..o Central, olbow, and shove their way through th<. crowds there, and Aboard a city-bound tram, in tho euro and certain knowledge that not a few of them even then, especially at the peak hours, will bo -merely strap hangers. When the underground is completed, it will be possible to loop' tho loop, so to speak, right round tho city in about llj minutes. This railway, gigantic as the work is, involving an outlay of close on £7,000,000, is only the forerunner of a vast hotwork of underground railways that will eventually, spread themiiclvos in a mighty maze under Sidney's surface, for thore will be an inner loop as well iis tho present outer loop, with ono underground station in tho very heart of Pitt street. Behind this va.it project, which has meant, among many other problems, tho diverting of huge sewers and water pipes, as well as f?ns and other mains, is the genius of Dr. Bradfield, an unassuming little man whoso chief hoboies have been tho railway, and tho Sydney Harbour uridge. He will need no mora enduring monuments, when ho has passed beyond, than these two vast works. ' Dr. Bradfiold '•.. chief delight, after ho has knockod off work, is figurative!/ to carry bricks, for not a week passes without a most fascinating illustrated lecture by him in ono or other of tho suburbs on tho underground railway or tho bridge. It is not, unlikely that ho -would hardly havo n night to himself if ho accepted all the invitations scut to hint to speak about these two vast engineering projects.