The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 7 (November 1, 1929)
Electric Transport in the London Suburban Area
Electric Transport in the London Suburban Area
Electrification is now recognised as the most satisfactory method of meeting operating problems associated with the working of passenger traffic over busy city and suburban railway routes. Intensive steam-operated services, such as are, for example, employed at the Liverpool Street terminal in London of the London and North Eastern Railway, meet modern requirements up to a point, but in every growing city it is only a matter of time before electric working becomes standard practice. London, Paris, Manchester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and other European centres have their extensive systems of electric lines, the Southern Railway of England actually operating in the London area, the largest individual electric suburban railway system in the world.
Ever since the introduction of grouping in 1921, the Southern Railway has been working steadily towards the complete electrification of its tracks in and around London. Already some 750 track miles have been converted from steam to electric traction, and, by about next June, extensions recently put in hand will give this Company an electrified trackage of 800 miles. The new routes to be electrified are those between Hounslow and Windsor; Dartford and Gravesend, and Wimbledon and West Croydon. Direct current at 1,500 volts, with third rail transmission, is the system employed, trains composed of motor and trailer cars being worked on the familiar multiple unit arrangement. The new developments will provide for a service of trains in each direction every twenty minutes. Last year the Southern Railway handled 6,500,000 more passengers than in 1927, and in 1927 there was an increase of 11,500,000 passengers over 1926. In securing this increased passenger business, electrification has played an important part. At this stage in electrification's development it is unnecessary to dwell upon the rare appreciation of electric working, displayed by almost every traveller. In electrifying their Otira and Lyttelton-Christchurch tunnel sections, the New Zealand Government Railways have done much to earn the goodwill of the public.
The Education of Railwaymen.
Train Control Systems in Germany.
Railway working in Holland has, to a considerable degree been influenced by Germany, but there are many clever devices employed in German railway operation that are as yet untried in the Netherlands. In automatic train control, Germany has, for example, made far greater progress than any other European land. Three methods of train control are favoured by the Berlin authorities. Mechanical control of the Van Braam type is employed, with track elements placed between the rails, giving a repetition of signal movements in the cab of the locomotive and automatically applying the engine brakes. Recently an improvement of this page 20 type of control has been introduced in the Berlin and Hamburg electrified areas. Here the track element is situated at the side of the track, some two feet above rail level. As yet the new apparatus serves only as an absolute stop device at the home signal, but, by degrees, the usefulness of the device will be increased so that it effects a partial application of the locomotive brakes when desired, and also, to make it effective for steam working on the main lines.