TRAVELLERS' PLEASURE

Evening Star, Issue 19124, 16 December 1925, Page 1

TRAVELLERS' PLEASURE

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS RAILWAYS;- 1 .Hops iJk; ordinary railway carriage really represent the best possible use of the space available for passengers’ seats in a, modern railway coach? asked the ‘ Spectator.’ Does it, for instance, give the best view of the countryside through which the train is passing? For in face of the competition of the bus and char-a-banc the pleasure of the passenger on the journey will have to he carefully considered. Surely a more modern saloon car which has been introduced in most of the electric services, with big glass windows giving an uninterrupted view of the countryside, would be the more rational form of coach. Wo doubt, however, whether any arrangements for the comfort; and pleasure of passengers will in the end save the passenger traffic on the railways, unless an even more drastic reform is undertaken. Wo refer to the general electrification of the whole system of the country. This may or may not be a practical measure now, but who can doubt that it must he the ultimate development? Quite apart from the question of efficiency, how immensely would this in itself add to the comfort and pleasure ol railway travelling. For, after all, is it not the dirt, the thin layer of coal dust, which inevitably overlays everything to do With a railway system, that at present makes travelling an unpleasant necessity? Eliminate the coal from the railways, and our stations might become, inside as well as outside, some of the most magnificent public buildings in the country, instead of the smoko-grimed barns which they arc to-day. In summer open-air coaches might be run as observation cars. Rut, of course, the real advantage of the electric sendee would be the rapidity and frequency of trains which it. would make possible. There is already an all-electric tram running between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America. In face, of thus, it is surely impossible to say that the distances on English railways are too great for electrification. Our railway system, which is undoubtedly the finest in the Old World, must adapt itself to the now age. If it does than it need not fear any competition from other means of transport.