RAILWAY WHICH NEVER STOPS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10902, 20 October 1911, Page 2

RAILWAY WHICH NEVER STOPS.

The great feature of the proceedings of the British Association Has been the paper in which Mr W. Yorat-h Lewis outlined an entirely new* form of railway—one that could cope with practically any rush, on which one could not Eossibly lo=e trains, and which could not e held up by strikes. ; "The travelling habit," he said; "js increasing directly as the square ot the population, and in many cities even at > greater rate. "Notwithstanding the increasing demand for additional facilities, intensified services, and higher effective speeds, developments are held up owing to the heavy initial and operating cost of subways equipped with electric trains. ''ln the endeavor to meet present requirements the limit has already been reached in the case of several notable undertakings, and in approaching the maximum of despatch the tendency, towards continuous transportation has stefidily growing. "It is becoming clear that passengers should be handled in streams instead 01 in crowds. Damming for one minute a human stream flowing at three -miles per hour, if the volume is four abreast and six feet apart, means.a crowd, of. 176people, with the consequent discomfort and delay of more than one minute, because of the time required by the detachment to board the train. : "Obviously, if, instead of interrupting this human stream, accommodation with capacity of about three seats .•« second could be .provided at a..sufficiently: slow sveed to enable passengers t% step on or off the cars, all delay - and congestion would be eliminated. Mr Lewis' plan, which could be applied either to a new or an existing line, was for a constant series, of little cars- —to seat,-say five—worked by communication with, a kind, of revolving screw, which would: go the whole length of the line. ■ ~ At the stations the "worm"; of this screw would be close; elsewhere it would, extend rapidly. , . Thatis, the cars, though always, moving, would' be able to • come down from -their high journey-speed to a speed m the station of three miles an hour, which, Mr Lewis said, would enable passengers to board or alight from the cars with ease. ... ,\, e , • I asked: Mr Lewis, at the end of-las paper, if hee anticipated that there would be any reluctance, on the part or the passengers to board a moving veare always doing it," he said. "Look at the number of people who get on and" off tramcars when they are soine. Now, when, as in the case ot tile n-amcars, the speed is constantly changing, there are dangers; but not when, as in our system, the speed *n platforms would- be constant- and small, —three miles an hour. There would be no danger to anybody. , , "Perhaps two or three per cent. > t passengers might object. But, then, nervous old ladies could stick to omnibUMr Lewis claimed that his plan would give a speed of nineteen miles ail hour with stations every half mile; but t, as would be far more convenient in London, the stations were placed- at every quarter of a mile, he could still keep up an average speed of sixteen miles an bour. Mr Lewis then described his own system as stated above. "Obviously,' he adde, "no brake and no signal apparatus are required." . "Compared with a sub-way equipped with electric' traction, the system pro-, vides—2s per cent, higher speed: when the stations are the same distance apart; 50 per cent, greater capacity when the space occupied- is about % per cent, -less; the operating cost per seat-mile is only about one-quarter; the initial cost is about one-half. "Aftter extensive service any part, even any particular length of shaft, could be taken out and replaced by j new section in a couple of hours. "As regards the safety of the system, normally each car is positively under the control of its driving thread engagement, and as they ar e always the same number of convolutions apart the cars need never touch each.other unless required to do so. "Any car can be picked out of service and promptly replaced, and the whole system can be automatically brcught to a standstill in the event.ul the slightest- irregularity, if necessary."