Electrification at Berlin.

Outside London and Paris, no European city ranks of greater importance as a railway centre than Berlin. Here is handled the densest of city and suburban business, as well as a most important long-distance traffic connecting the German capital with every continental city of note. Big improvement plans now are being worked out in Berlin by the new German Railway Company established under the Dawes Plan, and these schemes include an ambitious electrification project covering the principal city and suburban routes.

page 21

For the haulage of main-line passenger trains across Berlin, there is to be utilised in the near future a new type of 476 kilowatt electric locomotive, with four driving axles having a total weight of 102 tons and a maximum speed of about forty miles an hour. It is proposed to eliminate steam working altogether within city limits, and an endeavour also has been made to arrive at types of electric motor cars and trailers offering at the same time a large seating capacity and low weight in conjunction with adequate resistance. The employment of silicon steel with high tensile resistance for the parts most subject to strain has made it possible to economise in weight to the extent of something like twenty-five per cent. The normal electric trains on the Berlin suburban routes consist of eight cars, comprising four motor cars and four trailers. Each train seats about 448 passengers, and can actually carry, with standing passengers, as many as 1,200 persons during rush hours.