Passenger Car Capacities Compared.

New passenger carriages lately put into traffic by the Home railways, set up an entirely fresh standard in travel comfort. In recent times there has been a marked increase in the carrying capacity of the Home railway passenger coach, but notwithstanding this development, the British passenger carriage remains, in general, a much smaller vehicle than the American or the Continental car.

page 19

In a paper delivered before the Scottish section of the Institute of Transport, in Glasgow, Mr. C. E. R. Sherrington, of the London School of Economics, made an illuminating comparison of passenger car capacities in Britain and other lands. In this paper it was remarked that the average British passenger train consisted of about ten coaches, carrying 360 passengers. In the United States a corresponding main-line train would consist of about seven cars carrying 400 people. Typical third-class carriages in Britain provide seats for 64 passengers, and weigh from 27 to 33 tons. French second-class cars (corresponding with British third) provide seats for from 68 to 72 passengers, and weigh 43 to 46 tons. Typical American day cars seat from 80 to 110 passengers, and weigh from 45 to 67 tons. Conditions are, of course, vastly different in Britain and America: British conditions more closely approximate to those existing in New Zealand than in the United States, that land of long distances and “big railroading.” The average passenger haul at Home works out at approximately 13 miles. This compares with the American figure of 40 miles, the Canadian 80 miles, the German 15 miles, the Belgian 16 miles, and the French 24 miles.