LATEST IN UNDERGROUND TRAVEL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7688, 24 April 1903, Page 2

LATEST IN UNDERGROUND TRAVEL

♦ NEW TURK'S PROPOSED UNDERGROUND MOYING SIDEWALK. London traffic-reformers will be interested in New York's latest and striking proposal for relieving tihe congested streets. The idea is to have an elaborate systenH of moving sidewalks underground. If such a system were- adopted in London on© would bo aible to descend into a subway a-ti the Bank, say, and emerge into daylight) again at Charing Cross on* Eaxl's Court) without having walked a step except upi and down tLe stairs. The details of th© plan are interesting. There would be two sidewalks, an up andi a down, moving at the rate o>f t&n miles an hour. Stations consisting of a single " island " platform would be placed between' them. Round each yfcataon, between it and the) moving sidewalks, would revolve a aeries of circular moving* sidewalks, one outside the oilier. The tune next -tthe station would nm ait' two miles and a half an hour, the next one at five, and the next at seven aad! a half. From this last tiravelleirs would! step on to the ten-mile-an-hour sidewalk! as easily as you step into an omnibus going at a slow wajlk. The two greait sidewalks would be 7fti wide. Seats facing inwards would run) along each side of them, leaving a space batAvcen sufficient for people to walk" along. One could either sit down apd travel aitl ten miles aoi hour, or walk, in which case his walking speed would 1 be added to the speed of tib& platform, and he would progross at ilhirtccm or fourteen miles an hour. The sidewalks would consist of an endless series of roofless cars, each 15ft long. There would lx* a. conductor to every four cars ta assist tdmid passengers on amd off, call outl the namas of tho stations, aaid so on. Certain cai'3 would b© reserved for emokars. It. is estimated that the sidewalks would' carry 250,000 pexjple a day, aad that at) busy tim&s they could caary 75,000 an hour. Tho subway would be 30ft wide, andi just deep ekounrh to clear ihe street'. Itl would ha heated throughout by eleatrio siioves, aaid eacfis car would carry an. electric light lamp-post. i It would so-cm a.t first as if ithe rattle of th© endless -string of cars, f»hut in by the tuainel, would produce a worse dJa thaax tHiab of the Blackball Tunnel. Speoial caire,. howevex, would be taken to deaden tOie noise. The wheels would be mounted an noiseless bearings, like those of a sewing 1 jnaohin© or bicycle. Tba rails would be) laid on iron ties kit into indiairubbef blocks. The entire cost of this subterranean adfewalk is estimated ab J31,000,000.