10. The securing of economies in working is a policy that is being actively pursued. Wasteful and uneconomic services and movements have been eliminated, and a marked advance in general operating efficiency has been made. The figure of 129 engine miles per locomotive per day, which is the highest ever obtained, was made possible by a combination of improvements in design, maintenance efficiency, locomotive diagramming, and shed working. In addition, both the mileage run per engine hour, and the ratio between train and engine mileage, have increased considerably. The most pleasing feature is the 10% decrease in the running costs per steam train mile, which have been reduced from 72.9 cents to 65.6 cents.
11. Notable operating features of the year have been the speeding up of the mid-day fast trains between Kowloon and Canton, from 3 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 20 minutes, and the attachment to the morning up express, on Sundays and Public Holidays, of a slip coach for golfers. This coach was slipped at Fanling for Sheung Shui and its introduction saved the running costs of the petrol rail-car it displaced. The northbound expresses lend themselves to operations of this nature, owing to the impracticability of stopping them in British territory after clearance by Chinese Customs at Kowloon.
12. Traffic trends are shown in the various comparative statements annexed to this report. The statistics relating to terminal through traffic, however, need weighting, owing to the complications introduced on October 1st, 1934, when the British Section's share of receipts from this kind of traffic was reduced from 35% to 28%.
13. Traffic features of the year were the growth of terminal through goods traffic, and the decline of all other traffics.
14. The number of passengers carried between Kowloon and Canton reached the peak figure of 1,302,039, but due to the lower fares necessitated by steamboat competition, the total receipts dropped 12.2%. Record numbers of passengers were hauled on festival days, the culmination being the transportation of 12,710 passengers from Kowloon to Canton on October 10th. This unprecedented figure was 140 per cent. greater than the maximum obtained in any previous year.
15. Mr. I. B. Trevor, the Traffic Manager, made tours of inspection over the road systems affecting the railway. As the result of his observations, a revised transportation map of southern Kwang Tung is appended to this report. The various roads north of Shum Chun are all bus routes, and many of them terminate at the outskirts of towns; that between Tung Kun and Cheung Muk Tou was opened on the 18th December, and negotiations are in progress for a combined road-rail service between Tung Kun, Liu Po, and Kowloon.