NEW TUBES FOR LONDON

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10210, 21 February 1919, Page 2

NEW TUBES FOR LONDON

Work will probably be in the | near future on the first of a series of wonderful now "tube" railways for London. This, is the Kearney High Speed Railway under the Thames to connect East Ham and Woolwich—a total distance of * of a mile. The plans for this tube" are now before the Board of Trade, and a comm'ittee appointed to investigate the proposal by the Woolwich Council has reported in favour of th© scheme. In tea-viewed bv the "National News," Mr Chalmers Kearney, the inventor of the "switohbaok" monorail system of railways, said :—"The Ebst Ham-Wool-wich tube will be a full-sized example of the Kearney system, and other tubes will quickly follow when this has proved successful. "The train will run on a top and bottom single rail—the latter taking the weight and the former keeping the car in position. The line will consist of a sinsle tube in which the train will run forward and backward, and owing to attaining the high speed of sixty miles an hour by the steep gradient or 'switchback' system we shall bo able to maintain a three-minute service. leavintr North Woolwich station the tube dips down by' a gradient of one in seven to a depth of 110 ft, and passes under the river more than I 40ft below the bed. On the Kent side the line rises bv another gradient of one in seven to a station adjoining Woolwich Arsenal (rates. The station will Ibe immediately below the street level, with which it will be connected bv a single flight of steps. The time [ taken by .the journey from East Ham ! to Woolwich will be one minute. "It is proposed to charge penny fares on the line, and the opening of the service will mean n bie saving of time to tho many East End. workers who travol between these points daily. "The total cost will be .£IBO,OOO, and the whole of this sum is already assured. If the Board of Trade grants |us tho necessary powers through the iLight (Railway Commissioners, it is hoped to make a start early next spring." . I Replying to a question regarding the ! effect of aerial travel on his plans for lone distance "Kearney" railways, Mr Chalmers Kcarnev said: "Developments in the air will prove an advantage to my plans, because the railways will bo compelled to look round for swiften means of communication in order to eompete with aerial transport on the surface." It is expected that the Woolwich ,tube will tako about twelve months to complete. Meanwhile, other schemes are Strand-Crystal Palaco and Oml-Vic-toria-Cricklowood tubes, while a Lon-don-Paris line and various provincial projects are under contemplation to be carried out when tho Woolwich line is' running and labour and materials are more easily available.