THE THREAT TO THE RAILWAYS E are beginning to hear
a great deal about the growing competition between road and rail transport. The country omnibus, which is now one of the most charac- teristic features of almost every road in England, is begin- ning to cut into the passenger traffic of the railways, and loud complaints are being made by the railway com- panies. We are told that the railways are indispensable to the life of the nation ; that omnibus competition is - ruining them, and that we should, out of public spirit, rally to their support. One feels a little tempted to reply to the spokesman of the railways that nothing, after all, is indispensable. Indeed, the gravamen of the complaint is that the travelling public is finding itself able to dispense with the railways. If a motor-omnibus is found better to serve the interest of the community, then it is the bus that is indispensable. The railways, if they wish to hold their own, must do so by making their service more attractive to the public than that of the buses, not by sentimental appeals. On the other hand, there does seem to be something in the ease of the railwaymen. It is interesting to notice that the men, as represented by their unions, are taking part in the controversy. Evidently railway workers feel themselves, to some extent at any rate, as identified in a co-operative spirit with the running of the railways. This is all to the good. For instance, Mr. Marchbank, Assistant Industrial Secretary of the N.U.R., tells us in an interview with the Daily Herald that his members complain that the competition of the buses is not fair competition, because bus employees are paid scandalously low wages, and there is no limit to the hours which they are compelled to work. Again, he complains that the bus companies have to pay no taxation, and do not have to pay a proportionate part of the expense of repairing the roads they damage. The railways on the other hand, in addition to having to keep up their entire tracks, have to pay heavy rates and taxes. There seems to be something in Mr. Marelibank's Paint. It is clearly against the national intereif to Penalize one form of transport by 'heavy taxation, &C., as against another. While there ig 'no reason to interfere in the free play of economic forees as between rail and road, yet clearly if our present system of taxation is partial we are interfering and stand the risk, therefore, of not developing that system which is on the whole most suited to our needs.
Meanwhile the effect of the competition of the buses seems already to have brought considerable benefits to the railway travelling public. We hear of new excursion facili- ties in all directions tin the West Riding of Yorkshire (an official of the North Eastern Railway tells us in the Daily Herald) the company has, on a particular route, reduced its rates to a single fare for a double journey. Thus the public benefits. But we wonder if far more drastic iin- provements must not be undertaken if the railways are really to keep pace with the times. After all, there is something essentially nineteenth century and out of date about the whole look of an ordinary third-class railway carriage on a steam train. The two great new methods of transport, the petrol engine and the electric motor, which have developed since the railways were built, will in the end necessitate drastic changes.
Does the ordinary railway carriage, built apparently on the model of the " landau," really represent the best possible use of the space available for passengers' seats in a modern railway coach ? Does it, for instance, give the best view of the countryside through which the train is passing ? For in face of the competition of the bus and charabanc, the pleasure of the passenger on the journey will have to be carefully considered. Surely a more modern type of railway coach, such as the modern saloon car which has been introduced in most of the electric services, with big glass windows giving an uninterrupted view of the countryside, would be the more rational form of coach. Then, sooner or later, the whole question of first and third class carriages will have to be considered. What, we wonder, would be the saving achieved by the simplification of a single class ? Would it not be possible to build a single class coach with deep seats, practically as comfortable as the present first-class carriage, though, perhaps, lined with some rather more serviceable material, which would be hardly more expensive to build than the present third class carriage ? After all, the second class has already dropped out. Is there any reason, except a deep- rooted prejudice, why a single class with a standard of comfort of which no one could complain should not be introduced at third class rates ? Everybody has seen the ludicrous sight of a train drawing out of a station with its third class carriages jammed to suffocation, yet with two coaches of empty first. Surely such a system is a relic of other days.
We doubt, however, whether any arrangements for the comfort and pleasure of passengers will in the end save the passenger traffic on the railways, unless an even more drastic reform is undertaken. We refer, of course, to the general electrification of the whole system of the country. This may or may not be a practical measure now, but who can doubt that it must be the ultimate development ? Quite apart from the question of efficiency, how immensely would this in itself add to the comfort and pleasure of railway travelling ! For, after all, is it not the dirt, the thin layer of coal dust, which inevitably overlays every- thing to do with a railway system that at present makes travelling an unpleasant necessity ? Eliminate the coal from the railways and our stations might become, inside as well as outside, some of the most magnificent public buildings in the country, instead of the smoke-grimed barns which they are to-day. In summer open-air coaches might be run as observation cars. But, of course, the real advantage of the electric service would be the rapidity and frequency of trains, which it would make possible. We understand that there is already an all-electric train running between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America. In face of this it is surely impossible to say that the dis- tance's on English railways are too great for electrification.
Our railway system, which is undoubtedly the finest in the Old World, must adapt itself to the new age. If it does that it need not fear any competition from other means of transport.
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