The New York Rapid-transit Subway

Proceedings.] DISCUSSION ON NEW YORK SUBWAY. 53 that that was the proper mode of constructing town railways. Sir John 1 1 1 1 1 x Wolfe Barry and he had never lost an opportunity of urging that view. He considered that, to be convenient, urban railways should be as near to the street as they could possibly be made, and that it was a mistake to carry people down to depths of 80, 90, or 100 feet in lifts, with the idea of gaining advantages which he was bold enougli to say had not been realized. The seductive argument which had caused engineers to adopt tube railways in London was founded upon the existence of the impermeable London clay. It had been thought that boring through London clay would be cheap and easy, and would have great advantages over a shallow subway: but what was the result? The cost of tube railways had risen to £700,000 per mile; and the lifts had been found extremely expensive to construct and also to work. A passenger who made a horizontal journey by railway found that he also had to make two vertical journeys by lift— neither a cheap nor an expeditious mode of transit. In his opinion the old system of easy access to the street by commodious staircases was infinitely superior to any system of lifts, however carefully designed. Again, it had been thought that no disturbance of buildings would be caused by burrowing in the London clay. That anticipation also had not been realized. There had been very considerable—he did not say dangerous—disturbances, involving the payment of large amounts in compensation, while at the same time some alarm had been caused. It had been thought that the cost of the lifts and iron subways would be counterbalanced to a large extent by the cost of diverting gas- and water-mains. Of course, expenditure on such work was saved, but as to what the amount of that saving was, he might state his own experience in completing the Inner Circle through the most crowded part of London. Through Cannon Street Eastcheap, the Minories and Whitechapel Road, gas-pipes and water- pipes were encountered in every direction, including the great trunk gas-mains which supplied London and very important water-mains. On 11 mile of railway the whole of the work on the gas- and water- mains had cost £26,000: what was that when dealing with ex- penditure at the rate of .£700,000 per mile? It was also held by some that the shallow system involved danger to buildings ; but what was the experience in building the Inner Circle, a full-sized railway, made through the most crowded part of the City of London—the most crowded square mile of the whole world—with lofty buildings adjoining, and through comparatively narrow streets. Absolutely no damage to property had been caused. Of course the engineers had been liberal in carrying out precautionary underpinning, but, nevertheless,