Increasing Use of Railways.

All over the world, rail-cars have become established as profitable train units. In Europe, the railways are finding these light rail-cars of the greatest utility in combating the competition of the road carrier; and while, at the outset, train units of this type were principally confined to branch-line operation, to-day their use is generally extending to the main-lines. In Britain, long-distance rail-cars are regularly in commission, a noteworthy service being that of the Great Western system between Birmingham and Cardiff.

Across the Channel, France is putting into traffic high-speed rail-cars on many main-lines, while in Hungary specially fast rail-cars are running daily between Budapest, the capital, and the Austrian capital of Vienna. On the Paris-Brest route recently, a world's record was set up by a Bugatti petrol-driven rail-car, which attained a speed of 122 m.p.h. A similar rail-car connects Paris with Vichy, the popular spa. In Germany, a new fast rail-car service has just been inaugurated between Berlin and the Rhineland city of Cologne. The trains employed are on similar lines to the well-known “Flying Hamburgher,” but incorporate a number of improvements aiming at greater passenger comfort and quieter operation.