The impressions given in the following article are those of an ordinary traveller who is not, nor has been in any way connected with the railway service either in Australia or New Zealand.

My last visit to Australia was made seventeen years prior to this one, extending over two months, made at the close of last year, and was the seventh visit paid to the Commonwealth.

Beyond the erection of a lofty clock tower, the outer view of the great Sydney railway station had apparently not undergone change. A commendable feature here is that trams pass into the station buildings, affording shelter to passengers in bad weather. Just within is a spacious hall surrounded by ticket offices, refreshment and waiting rooms, bookstalls, etc., and this gives access to the numerous lengthy platforms common to a “dead end” station. The station facilities have been well planned, no dangerous ramps exist, and the work of dealing with the scores of thousands daily passing through goes on without hitch of any kind.

For the year ending June 30, 1928, 148,046,881 passengers were carried on the New South Wales Railways. During the same period the tramways in Sydney carried 346,013,775 passengers.

On the eastern side of the station, alterations and extensions have been made for electric trains, serving the southern suburbs, to pass through the underground lines below Hyde Park in the centre of the city. There are two subway stations, having every modern convenience, and finished in white tiling, the only drawback being the long entrances to the street. The line is largely patronised by the thousand? of workers and others who daily pass to and from the city. A western system is being constructed under George Street, with a station under Wynyard Square, which will ultimately connect the central station with the existing northern electric lines by way of the great harbour bridge.