The New York Rapid-transit Subway

Proceedings.] DISCUSSION ON NEW YORK SUBWAY. 103 i e TAwdon had been Mr. Cuning- seemed that the beautiful homogeneous clay of London had been ham. designed by Nature for the very purpose of having tunnels pierced through .it, and it would be a great pity to balk Nature in he design. The simplicity with which the tubes were constructed was wonderful, and the absolute non-disturbance of the streets through which the tubes passed was an incalculable point their favour. For instance, while the tube was being constructed under Regent Street, of all the millions of people who passed along that street during the construction he did not suppose there were a hundred who knew what was going on down below. Picturing the scene if there had been an open cut, with all the water-pipes, gas- pipes and sewers removed, one could scarcely imagine the outcry of the people of London, and even of people throughout the world, at such an intolerable disturbance. But the construction of a tube went on wi i absolute simplicity and with the greatest ease. Mr. Hudleston had given some figures relating to the cost of construction, and MIr. Cuningham thought he was not far wrong in saying that the cost a tube 11 feet 6 inches or 12 feet in diameter could be calculated at about £34 per lineal yard, which came to about £60,000 per sing e mile, or about £120,000 per double mile.1 It would cost a great deal more than €120,000 per mile, in constructing an open cut along Oxford Street, to remove and relay all the gas-pipes, water-pipes, an sewers; and that was a very strong point in favour of tube construc- tion. One thing that had been urged against tubes was that the air was not good. He had seen the Subway in New York,and the air was not good there ; there had been a tremendous outcry among the people of New York about the condition of the atmosphere, and great diffi- culty had been found in improving it, because the various openings in the side of the subway prevented any pumping out. The heat of the subway became intolerable in the hot weather, and there were no means of cooling it. The ventilation of a tube was a simple matter. The proper place for such ventilation was, in his opinion, midway between the stations, and not at the stations themselves. A shaft could not be constructed in the street ; but it was possible to have a horizontal shaft connected with the top of the tube, running back 200 feet or 300 feet to a convenient backyard, where a vertical shaft might be erected, and the atmosphere could be changed by means of a fan, which could work at all times while the trains were running If that were done, a great deal of the objection to the atmosphere of the tubes would be overcome. As a matter of fact, on the Central * That is, for the tube alone, lined complete, but without permanent way and not including the cost of any land.—G.C.C.