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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 11 (February 1, 1935)

Electrification on the Continent

Electrification on the Continent.

Britain does not possess such abundant natural water-power resources as
Holiday Crowds at Liverpool Street Station, London.

Holiday Crowds at Liverpool Street Station, London.

page 12 page 13 some continental countries. France, for example, is fortunate in the possession of big resources of this kind, and so electrification of the French railways is proceeding steadily. At present there are 1,700 miles of electrified route in France, the Midi Company leading with about 1,000 route miles of electrified track.

On the Paris-Orleans Railway, the Paris-Orleans-Vierzon section is operated electrically, and is now being extended to Brive. Most of the Paris suburban tracks of the State Railways are electrified. Some 110 million passengers use the State Railway St. Lazare Station in Paris annually, 55,000 passengers leaving the station daily between 6.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. Of the 6,150 miles included in the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway, it is intended to convert 1,550 miles to electric traction in the near future. At present, the only electrified route on this system is one of 84 miles, from Culoz to Modane, on the main line to Italy.

In Northern France electrification is temporarily suspended by reason of the fact that the Nord, Est and Alsace-Lorraine Railways are shortly due to be handed back to the State on the termination of their concessions. In nearby Belgium, however, an ambitious scheme is being proceeded with covering the electrification of the throughout main line between Brussels and Antwerp.

The Belgian National Railway's line between the capital and Antwerp is thirty miles in length, and from 10,000 to 12,000 passengers are conveyed in each direction daily. Steam trains occupy thirty-five minutes on the throughout run: with electric traction the journey time will be cut to twenty-seven minutes. On completion of the conversion from 55 to 60 electric trains daily will replace 20 steam trains, enabling the daily number of passengers handled to be increased to 20,000. The overhead system, with direct current at 3,000 volts, is being adopted. At the outset, twelve new air-conditioned, four-car trains are to be introduced in the new services. Each train will consist of two motor coaches and two trailers. The cars will be 72ft 2in long, of all-metal construction, and with three pneumatically-controlled doors on each side.