"FASTER TRAINS"
[To the Editor of the Sexcrsron.] Sirt,—In your editorial paragraph last week headed "Faster Trains" you scarcely give the railways their due. It would have been more fair if you had spoken of the gradual acceleration" rather than the "gradual slowing-down" of expresses. For example, the fastest services between London and the following places are (or will be this summer) quicker than the corresponding services in 1914: Bradford, Cambridge, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chester, Edinburgh, Exeter, Folkestone, Glasgow, Harrogate, Leeds, Newcastle- on-Tyne, Nottingham, Penzance, Plymouth,. Portsmouth, Scarborough, Southampton, Torquay, York.
The following places have services at the same speed as in 1914: Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Hull, Manchester, Margate, Yarmouth.
The above list does not, of course, include all the important towns in Great Britain, but it goes a long way to refute the accusation that the railways are adopting a gradual slowing-down policy. On the other hand, it is quite true that places as important as Aberdeen, Leicester, Liverpool, Perth, and Sheffield, still Huffer from a worse service than in 1914, but the differences in time are very small, and it is to be hoped they will shortly disappear. Those towns which now enjoy a faster service than in 1914 are in nearly every ease better served than ever before. The Scottish services are an exception, and it is true that for a short period in the latter part of the nineteenth century, certain expresses were timed to run to Scotland faster than they are now, though the 6 hrs. 18 mins. mentioned by you was a " show " perform- ance by a " racing " train, and not a regular booked service. But it must be remembered that these trains were very light even in proportion to the size of locomotive then available, and, more important still, that the number of other trains on the line was negligible compared with present-day conditions ; and it is this last consideration which weighs so heavily in modern express train working. A signal cheek to a heavy train travelling at seventy miles an hour or over may mean
that the train will be running from that point several minutes behind its booked time, with consequent dislocation of other • trains. The faster the train, the more essential it is for it to have a clear run—no easy task, especially in the summer with the great additional volume of excursion trallic to be dealt with. This difficulty was relatively non-existent forty years ago, and is relatively non-existent in France to-day, where the volume of traffic over any of the main lines does not approach that which obtains in this country.
Another difficulty which to-day confronts the railways is the necessity for restricted speed in colliery areas where the ground has been undermined, and high speed cannot be permitted to heavy locomotives. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1931 the number of trains running daily in this country at average speeds of fifty-five miles an hour, or over, was one hundred and seventy-one, a number well in excess of the previous best British figure, and of the present French figure of one hundred and twenty-six. Incidentally, Great Britain can boast the fastest train in the world and the longest non-stop ran in the world.-1 am, Sir, Ste., FORWARD.
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