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The Railways Given the Benefit of the Doubt.

6th March 1928, Page 43
6th March 1928
Page 43
Page 44
Page 43, 6th March 1928 — The Railways Given the Benefit of the Doubt.
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THE result Of the division in the House of Cornmons on the -second reading of the Railway Bills was as we had expected ;. the railways have received the benefit of the doubt, but we had anticipated more even voting. The majority of 357 out of 399 voting was almost the only surprise 01 the debate. NO new 'arguments, no unexpected contentions were advanced by either side, and the speechs were by no means on a high level, With the exception of that of the Minister of Transport, which showed a great deal of thought and,.prossibly, turned the scale in favour of. the second 'reading among thoSe Who had no bias either way.

The chief argument for the railways was their appeal for equality of treatment. Road hauliers and carriers had built up a post-war business and the railways were debarred from participating in it. That they themselves have a monopoly. of transport by rail, each in its own area, seems to be overlooked, and if they do secure the powers for which they are asking they will have the two strings to their bow—road and Motions to commit the Bills (of which there are live) to a Select Committee will be taken so soon as they have been reported upon by the examiners, and road-transport interests will then be in a position to endeavour to secure the inclusion of % certain desirable safeguards, The declaration in each Bill that 'the provision, owning, working and use Of vehicles by' thecompany and the provision of funds, holding of stoeks,. etc., under the Act .shall be deemed to form an ancillary or subsidiary. business" ,and, therefore, to come within the limitations imposed by the Railways Act of 1921, should lie strengthened, whilst a further provision must be so modified that it will not be possible for the railways toform ,or ,finance _.separate roadtransport concerns which would be free from restrictions Imposed by the proposed Acts.

The prevention repressive comPetition against: existing haulage and passenger-carrying concerns calls for careful thought, and if the establishment of services and their withdrawal be made subject to appeal to, and the consent of, the Minister of Transport, the fears of those who, since the war, have created the road-transport industry may, in a measure, be mollified. That they are deserving of every consideration is shown by . . the fact. 'that the value of the rolling stock on the roads of the cOnntrY exceeds £100,000,000. Major Glynn, Speaking for the railways, gave the value at £134,000,0.00.. Our own calculations, made on a more Conservative basis, and making the fullest allowance for depreciation and Obsolescence, places the value. at £107,500,000. As . competitors, the owners of the vehicles represented in this capital outlay constitute a formidable force, and if the private sectional interests are carefully dealt with in the Committee stages, unfair tactics in the exercise of the powers granted to the railwayS may be iTeventable. At the same time, road hauliers and passenger carriers must look for more control or supervision when the projected Road Traffic Bill becomes law. Despite all that has been said on behalf of the railways, the lesson of the canals remains and must not be forgotten.

The Romance of Heavy Haulage.

WHO amongst us has not observed with amazement and, sometimes, with a feeling almost akin to awe, some huge, and often exceedingly heavy, articles being transported by road ; such loads, for instance, as boilers, electric transformers and buill-up girders, and has not wondered how even human ingenuity has been able to overcome the many difficulties which must of necessity occur in the handling of such cumbersome articles. Some may be so tall as to render necessary the avoidance of all except the highest bridges, others may be of a length which would appear to render the negotiation of corners alone a matter of the utmost difficulty.

Consider the transference of a 98-ft. girder from railway trucks to road trucks, its transport through the streets of London and its unloading on to the site of one of London's latest buildings. A feat like this was carried out only a few weeks ago, and with remarkable smoothness.. Single loads of 100 tons or more may have to be dealt with, yet these are handled expeditiOnsly and, generally, with safety. Occasionally, but fortunately very seldom, there is a toll of human life, but the means available are being steadily improved and a higher factor of safety ensured.

It says much for the strength of our modern roads that they are able to stand up to such loads without excessive damage ; in fact, in most instances, with no damage at all. This, however, is partly due to the care taken in the design of suitable conveyances by which the load is spread over a large number of wheels and distributed as evenly as possible over a big area of the road surface.. This not only prevents the crushing of such surface, but avoids damage to the road foundations.

This is one of the fields of activity in which the :steam-propelled machine proves its real value and its wonderful reserve of power. Use is, of course, made of petrol tractors, but mainly for the haulage of loads which, whilst being great in comparison with what may be termed usual practice, do not approach such weights as that .mentioned2 It is not, however, the extraordinarily heavy load which is always most difficult to deal with. The load may be both heavy and cumbersome, possibly so wide as to occupy the whole breadth of some of the roads which it will have to traverse, whilst to remove certain articles from their original positions and to replace them in others it may be necessary to demolish walls or even buildings, but, of course, every different task presents its own prob-' lems, which, however, may be said never to be beyond the capabilities of those who undertake such work. There are not many who do so, and these have had many years' experience in it and have in their employ men who, after years of experience, have developed an almost uncanny-knack of coping with heavy haulage problems which, to the uninitiated, might appear almost impossible of solution.

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Organisations: Select Committee
Locations: London

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