Mr. List. would suggest as a compromise :-(1) The retention of the metre-gauge for (a) all lines south of latitude 16° except existing broad-gauge lines; (b) all Rajputana, Kathiawar and Gujrat; (c) all north and east of the Ganges. (2) The conversion of the Godavari Valley and GuntakalBezwada lines to standard gauge. (3) The connection of the metregauge north and south systems between Khandwa and Hotgi. (4) The connection of Bombay and Karachi by a standard-gauge line to Badin, or the crossing of the Indus again lower down at Tatta. He believed that projects (3) and (4) were actually under consideration and survey. The 2-foot 6-inch and 2-foot gauges should be allowed only as pioneer lines, or as distinctly hill-district lines where the country was exceptionally difficult, or traffic never likely to be heavy. The lines of 2-foot 6-inch gauge made on the north-west frontier for military purposes were now being converted to standard gauge. Another 2-foot 6-inch line just sanctioned, from Saharanpur to near Delhi, should be made to the standard gauge; it would traverse a very rich, densely populated, and well-irrigated country. It was, however, to be made suitable for easy conversion to the standard gauge. The lines of 2-foot 6-inch gauge proposed in Central India would, no doubt, also be converted to standard gauge in a short time, as the country became opened up and traffic developed. All future construction in the plains and easy country should be of standard gauge, or of 2-foot 6-inch gauge built for conversion thereto. No more metregauge trunk lines should be built; only branch extensions strictly within the territories now occupied by metre-gauge lines. He did not advocate light standard-gauge lines-that was, lines with a light permanent way of 40-lb. to 50-lb. rails-because a very light permanent way would not take main-line loads except at such low speeds as to block traffic. If there was reasonable traffic to start with, a standardgauge road should be made with 60-lb. rails, money being saved on stations and buildings at first. If traffic was to be fostered, a 2-foot 6-inch gauge line should be made with formation to take the standard gauge in due time. The North-Western railway had made 100 miles of what was virtually a light standard-gauge line. It was almost a surface line, with paved dips or Irish bridges at waterways, and bridges only at canal-crossings. It was laid with second-hand rails from mainline renewals-originally 60 lbs. to 68 lbs. per yard but reduced 10 per cent. in weight-no platforms, and wattle-and-daub stations. It cost a little more than £2000 per mile, not including rolling stock, and the ordinary rolling stock was used with old engines (13 tons on drivingaxles). It had been intended that the speed should be 8 to 12 miles per hour, but the traffic soon increased to such an extent that it could not be dealt with, and speed was increased to 15 to 20 miles per hour. The road began to go to pieces at once, the cost of maintenance became Mr. List. excessive, and no time had to be lost in putting down 75-lb. steel rails. Such was the result of the experiment of making a cheap, light, standard-gauge line in the newly-irrigated districts of the Punjab. But, as a matter of fact, many of the earlier lines in India, like the early English lines, had been built with a very light permanent way, and strengthened as traffic grew. The North-Western railway (originally the Sind, Punjab and Delhi railway, Indus Valley State, and Punjab Northern State railways) was originally laid with 60-lb. iron, 62-lb. steel, and 68-lb. iron and steel rails. It was relaid with 75-lb. steel about 20 years ago, and was now being relaid with 87-lb. steel rails on its heavy-traffic sections. An interesting fact was that the iron rails laid originally in 1865 cost £24 per ton, in 1875 they cost £12 a ton, and now £6 per ton was about the average for steel rails. This explained the difficulty of making a fair comparison between the cost of the earlier and the later lines. He had alreadly explained why standard-gauge rolling stock could not be made with the same ratio of capacity to gauge as metre-gauge stock, and he did not think Mr. Waring could have known the facts. Mr. List's recollection of the stock in Ceylon in 1889 was that it was very light, more like the lightest home stock. This might have been altered during the last 17 years; but with gradients of 1 in 33 and curves of 330 feet radius on a 5-foot 6-inch main line, it had perhaps not been ; and this might be the reason why it was possible to make a light standard-gauge northward. He did not think a bridge was needed across to Ceylon, as the chief traffic would be coolie labour, and a good ferry would suffice for that. The Government of India would not agree to Colombo being the southern seaport for India, after what had been spent at Madras, and might be spent at Vizagapatam. Indian conditions generally were exactly the reverse of those in Australia and in South Africa. In the latter, a sparse population and light traffic permitted the adoption of light pioneer lines; in the former there was generally a dense population and heavy traffic ready to use a standard line and make it pay at starting. More than one speaker had put forward the idea that two single lines of the same gauge and between the same places, but lying some distance apart, were equal to a double line, and could be worked as up and down lines. It was an extraordinary fallacy, as this could be done only in the extreme case of military necessity, at the cost of stopping all local traffic on both lines. There were some excellent examples of this double connection on the North-Western railway, namely, between Sibi and Quetta on the frontier, which was a military line, and between Rohri and Kotri on the main commercial route Mr. List, to Karachi. For local traffic it was necessary that engines and rolling stock should return the same way as they went: it was not conceivable that in ordinary circumstances station-to-station traffic on either line, was to be taken to the terminus or junction at either end and back again. Fig. 13 would explain his meaning. It showed the actual state of affairs between Rohri and Kotri on the Indus Valley section of the North-Western railway. If these lines were to be used as up and down lines during times of heavy grain-traffic (military needs must of course be complied with at all costs) then engines must be worked thus: Sukkur to Padidan : 1st trip. 2nd, As the average time taken by a goods-train was 9 hours per enginerun, this meant 4 days for the round trip. Now there was a considerable local traffic between Kotri and Larkhana, for instance, and if this was to be carried via Sukkur, it meant 245 miles as against 176 miles direct. It was quite clear, therefore, that it was not commercially practicable to work traffic in this way, sacrificing as it did all the station-to-station passenger- and goods-traffic to the interests of a few of the big up-country consignors. It was a matter of regret that only one metre-gauge advocate had had the courage to express his opinions at the meeting; but Mr. Izat was undoubtedly a host in himself, and it was due to his earnest, strenuous, and persistent advocacy for the past 25 years that his line, the Bengal and North Western railway, had achieved such marked success. Had there been his counterpart 30 years ago on the standard gauge, the metre gauge would not have reached its present position in India. However, he deserved his success, and no railway man in India grudged it to him. But even Mr. Izat went wide of the mark when he compared the cost of his line per mile with that of the Oudh and Rohilkhand railway. The latter was begun in 1868, and its first length was opened in 1872. Mr. List believed the Bengal and North Western railway was begun in 1883 and opened in 1885 or 1886, a difference of about 17 years. Mr. List had served on both lines, having had charge of construction of a subdivision of 30 miles on the Oudh and Rohilkhand, and of a division of 75 miles on the Bengal and North Western. On the former line much money was spent on masonry and earthwork, and on what was called "eyewash" and "landscape-gardening"-trimming and turfing cuttings and spoil-banks; and borrow-pits were turfed and terraced to prevent rain-scours. None of this was done on the latter line, though it undoubtedly saved heavy expenditure on future main Mr. List. tenance. Owing to the extraordinary rainfall and abnormal floods in 1871, after an interval of 100 years, the Saie and Gumti bridges had to be raised and doubled in length, and the earthwork had had to be so raised that, whereas Jaunpur city station was first made in a 10-foot cutting, it now stood on a 14-foot bank. But it was in the permanent way that the difference was most marked. As he had shown already, prices per ton were nearly double at the earlier date, besides the fact that the earlier line was laid with 60-lb. against 414-lb. rails, and on cast-iron pot-sleepers, costing four times as much as the sal sleepers of the later line. Rates for earthwork, brickwork, etc., were all higher on the earlier line, as it was made by men new to India; while on the construction of the Bengal and North Western line all the divisional engineers at least were trained Indian men, and were able to work at much lower rates. The two lines were not on the same plane in this respect, and it was stretching a point to compare them as if they had been made at the same time and under the same conditions. The standard-gauge Southern Punjab railway, 400 miles in length, made in the middle nineties, had cost £4,500 per mile, but it had no large bridges, and did not provide its own rolling stock. Mr. Bury had shown that in the Argentine there was a remarkable likeness to Indian conditions, and no doubt those interested in that country would watch closely Indian developments. Captain Hearn's remarks about the native feeling regarding the gauges were very pertinent. It was a mistake to suppose that the natives of India were indifferent to questions of speed or punctuality in connection with railways. They undoubtedly were so 20 years ago, but railways had proved a wonderful educator in this respect. When the metre gauge was first started at Agra about 1870 the natives christened it "The Government toy." What would they call the still smaller gauge of 2 feet 6 inches, if it were allowed to grow in the busy and populated districts of India; and what would they say if they saw the standard gauge being converted to the metre gauge ? But it was inconceivable that such a backward step would ever be taken, and the future policy would more probably be the following:-(1) Improvement of the carrying-capacity of the earlier standard-gauge lines. (2) Restriction of the metre gauge strictly to its own spheres, and conversion to standard gauge, or the laying of alternative standard-gauge lines where necessary or advisable. (3) The laying of pioneer lines of 2-foot 6-inch gauge, convertible to the standard gauge when necessary. The final averages given in the Author's Tables were simply the arithmetical means of the averages, instead of being worked out with regard to the relative magnitude of the different railways. By the courtesy of Mr. Hodson, Mr. List was able to present a revised |