Capetown Suburban Lines Electrified.

The electrification of the Christchurch-Lyttel-ton line of the New Zealand Government Railways synchronises with another interesting electrification work recently completed elsewhere within the British Empire—the conversion to electric traction of the Capetown suburban lines of the South African Railways. The tracks involved are those between Capetown and Simonstown (23 miles), and Capetown and Sea Point (3 1/2 miles). These tracks carry an exceptionally heavy passenger business, and page 20 presented the greatest operating difficulties under steam working. Power for the electrification has been secured from the generating station at Salt River Junction, energy being generated as three-phase alternating current at a normal pressure of 12,000 volts at a frequency of fifty cycles. Automatic track-side substations convert the current to 1,500 volts direct current for train movement, the overhead equipment consisting of a simple catenary.

The multiple unit method of operation, with trains composed of motor and trailer cars, has been adopted on the Capetown electrified tracks. Under the arrangement followed, a number of motor cars may be operated simultaneously from one master controller by connecting the control equipment in parallel through a train line with jumper cables between the cars. The motor cars are 60 ft. 8 in., long, and give a seating capacity of 670 for an eight-car train. This compares with the 625 passengers accommodated in the steam trains previously utilised. A saving of 14 minutes has been effected in the throughout run from Capetown to Simonstown (23 miles), while on the Capetown-Sea Point section the 31/2 miles run is covered in 13 minutes with seven intermediate stops, and in ten minutes with three stops. Eighteen train sets operate in this service, making 211 single trips daily.