The New York Rapid-transit Subway

68 DISCUSSION ON NEW YORK SUBWAY. [Minutes of Mr. Galbraith, not think the people in London would consent to the construction of a double line up Regent Street, for instance, or in the City, or along the Strand, having regard to the disturbance caused by the rearrangement of pipes during construction. His belief was that, although in the outskirts shallow subways might be built, they could not be constructed in the principal thoroughfares of London. With tube railways the interference with the streets was reduced to a minimum. He believed that the people of London between Waterloo and the City hardly knew that a railway was being constructed. Scarcely an ounce of material or excavation was carried along the streets : the excavation was all taken out to a stage in the river and barged away, and the materials for construction were brought in by river. The point raised was that if it could be done in America, why could it not be done in London? He could only say that the ideas of property in America and in England seemed to be very different. In America nothing was paid for the subsoil of the street or even for removing a man’s cellar. In New York, the contractors seemed to have had a very free and easy time ; in fact, the Author said that “great latitude was given to the contractor in the way of obstructing streets.” He did not propose to go any farther into that matter, as Mr. Fitzmaurice would probably be able to say something upon it. The greater portion of the railway in New York was in rock; blasting was done in the streets, and one of the blasts not only blew up the subway but let down three houses. One defect of the London tubes was the enormous cost of the stations. The cost of the work in connection with the tubes themselves was comparatively moderate, but he was almost afraid to think what the property and the station itself cost. In New York the stations were built under the streets, and that had been done in two cases in London, one being the Trafalgar Square station on the Baker Street and Waterloo railway, which had been a great success. At first it was intended to put a station, by permission of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, in the middle of the road, near the statue of King Charles I., but it was found that the rearrange- ment of the pipes and the sinking of the shafts would involve so much delay and expense that an arrangement was gladly come to with the Commissioners to pay a certain sum of money to be allowed to put the station near the Trafalgar monument; and that station had been built without the slightest disturbance of any- thing in the neighbourhood. It was within 35 feet of the foundations of the Nelson column, and although that column had been very carefully watched, there was not a sign of any disturbance. There was one thing in which he was glad to agree with Sir John Wolfe Barry; he believed that no more tube railways could be