ELECTRIFICATION

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 140, 15 June 1928, Page 10

ELECTRIFICATION

« SAVINGS IN HAULS EXPRESSES TO SUBURBS? THE LOCAL POSITION With the foreshadowed determined effort to make (lie A'cw Zealand railways pay, it is interesting to recall considered but uncompleted works which would help towards a conclusion eminently desirable from the country's point of view. The most promising of these, from several aspects, is the electrification of the railway system to a reasonable completeness compatible with the utilisation (o scrapping point of the. existing steam locomotives. It is always comforting, when innovations arc contemplated, to be able to point to successes on similar lines elsewhere. {Switzerland provides a striking example of the savings and advantages of electrification. It certainly tost Switzerland £27,000,000, Out the figures quoted in the Bulletin of the International lt-ailway Congress of 102S show that the expenditure was not only not fully warranted, but resulted in savings so great as to justify a pro rata expenditure on .New Zealand's smaller volume of railway traffic. FASTER JOURNEYS, HEAVIER LOADS. • • The 2-10 miles route between Geneva and Itorschack, on Lake Constance, is through the industrial northern end of Switzerland, ami the journey includes many stops, but notwithstanding this the average speed reached, including stops, under electrification is 31 miles per hour, It) "per cent, quicker than was possible "with steam. Applying, this speeding-up under electrification to the "Limited" express journey between Wellington and Auckland, where there are few stops, comparatively, but whore the grades make the comparison in favour of electrification justifiable, the journey of 14 hours 20 minutes could be cut down to 11 hours 3(i minutes. Kot only did electrification prove speedier in Switzerland, but the loads carried wore greater. The estimated trailing load for goods trains hauled by steam locomotives on a line with a maximum grade of 1 in 37 (comparable with portions of the line between Wellington and Johnsouvillo) was 323 tons. The load carried by the electric locomotive!, on this line is 490 tons, and the combined result of speed and grea'er. haulage is shown in tjio haulage nonaccomplished. In 1915 the maximum load of coal which could be transported on the Gothard section by steam was--11,200 tons daily, with the lino then working at the limit of its capacity. This spring, with electric haulage, 21,SOO tons of coal were hauled in one day. The desire at once presents itself for a comparison between the volume of traffic on the Swiss railways and those of Now Zealand, to ascertain what expenditure would be justified to obtain similar advantages here, particularly in the industrial areas, where the position is necessarily somewhat similar to those in which the Swiss successes were achieved, but before reaching that point additional advantages may well bo pointed out. AKBESTING- FIGURES. Tho bulletin of the congress states J that in Switzerland, in association with a reduction in the number of employees, and a heavy drop in the cost of locomotive coal, tho railways have succeeded in paying tho capital charges on the old and new capital averaged over the I last three years, for practically the same traffic as in 19113, though earnings had ■not fully paid capital charges until then since 1013, and there were largo arrears to make up. Electrification, has given a much improved slow passenger service, as well as decreasing tho time of tho journeys of express trains by 20 per cent. Goods train haulage has shown an improvement to the extent of 47 per cent, in trailing load, and by August", 1027, thye speeds had been increased to tho maximum permissible, while tho capacity of the Gothard lino for carrying minerals has been ' doubled. Thero has been a reduction | in the cost of locomotive maintenance per locomotive mile from 5.4 dto <j.4d under electric traction, and | full advantage has not yet been j taken of the intrinsic properties of electric locomotives to work 24 hours in the day, if necessary, and to remain in service for 80 per cent, of tho year, whereas steam locomotives can remain in service, on an average, only 40' per cent, of tho year. Only about half as many electric locomotives aro needed for running a raihvay as if steam locomotives wero used. j It would seem that tho Government of New Zealand should look with a particularly favourable eyo on the elcctri-1 fication of its transport, in view of the extent to which it is involved in all forma of hydro-electric schemes, and especially as tho railways, through compotition, have, become-one of tho commercial concerns of tho country. The j provision of a plentiful supply of clec- ] trie power to all forms of induslry should readily bo possible, by a, combination of tho "black" and "white" uoa! resources. TON MILEAGES COMPARED. Tho gross ton mileage of tho Swiss railways under electrification varies annually between 12,000,000,000 ton miles and 17,000,000,000 ton miles. Tito gross ton mileage of the New Zealand Railways last year was 2,000,000,000 ton miles, roughly ouo-seventli of that i of tho Swiss railways. It is interesting to observe to what extent the expenditure of a relative sum would electrify tho New Zealand-railways. In this connection tho report of Messrs. Merz and M'Lellan to the Government in 1925 is valuable, particularly in regard to the eiectriliration of the more dense.}" populated areas, as it shows that for less 1 haii £2,1)1)0,000 the suburban areas of the four centres can bo equipped, as follows:—Auckland £072,000, Wellington £733,000, Christchurch-Lyttelton X 191,000, Duncdin £3u4,000; total £1,950,000. The return of the new outlay is estimated as follows: —Auckland, 9.85 per cent., Wellington 8.45 per cent., Christchurch-L;-ttelton 2.2 per cent., and Dunediu 3.50 per cent. An exact comparison, of tho cost of the electrification of the whole of the New Zealand Railways with tho £4,000,000 whic.i its volume of traffic would justify, on tho basis of the success of the Swiss undertaking, cannot bo made without considering many factors, but it is evident from Messrs. Merz and M'Lellan's report that there would be £2,000,000 for expenditure on' other than suburban areas. WELLINGTON'S CASE. Investigation of the possibilities of electrification is particularly interesting in the case of Wellington, because of local problems, and because of the progress at tho present time of important railway development works the full valuo of which will not bo obtained without it. The lines Messrs. Merz and M'Lellan proposed to electrify in tho Wellington suburban district were Wellington-Petone, Pctone-Lnwev Hutt, Petone-Waterloo, Lower Ilntt-Uppei' Hutt. and Wolliugton-PaoUakarik.1. This is a eoniprcheisive scheme, likely to meet the needs of this centre for a considerable time, ami it is particularly interesting in vipw of the Tawa. Flat developments, and the fate of Ngaio, Khaitdallah, aiul Johnsonville. With tho double track through the iunuel, it is doubtful if the old line

will be retained past Johnsonvilio, and whether tho electrification of this portion will bo undertaken by the City Council as an extension of the tramway service, or by the. railways, has not yet been determined. Electrification would mean a great deal to the West Coast districts, and it is not improbable that with electrification suburban expresses would bo possible on both the west coast and the Hutt lines. HUTT VALLEY EXPRESSES? The estimated population of . the three large boroughs of the Hutt Valley at April, 1927, was Upper Hutt 2965, Lower Hutt 0465, and Petone ot>7u, a total of 22,303, a body or. people already served by the railways, and surely entitled to more rapid transit. The population of New Zealand is not enough to allow of such expansion of suburbs ns has followed the provisions j of fast non-stop trains from the larger English centres but the rapid growth of the Hutt Valley, the spaco still available for residential oecpue.toin, and the electrification of the lines would provide an admirable combination of circumstances for a trial of suburban expresses. There is a difficulty that (he population is in three well-defined areas, and that non-stop runs to each would of necessity overlap, but the promised oxpansion is such that the overlapping Would soon be no reason for denying each centre its service. Petone is in itself an industrial centre, and a, fair number of Upper Hutt passengers travel to and from it daily. With the completion of the WaterlooSilverstream loop under electrification, a fast non-stop run to Upper Hutt could bo tested. English comparisons are for many reasons unfair, but the success of suburban expresses in Capo town, a city of much the population of Wellington, was assured even under steam, and running on the only flat exit, greatly increased the residential occupation o£ suburbs at distances comparable with those in the Hutt Valley. I ■