PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
TILLC.O. 882
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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of 3,5001. per mile, which, without doubt, under the circumstances, Mr. Prestage would be fully justified in claiming, the cost per mile would be Rs. 106,666'67.
17. I have already pointed out that the mile per mile comparison of cost is not exact, See Memo- randum of for such a line as Mr. Prestage proposes would probably be 4 or 5 miles longer than that 17th April
now staked out, and also that for the cost of haulage of goods and passengers over this last, para. 20.
additional distance the Government are not, as I understand it, owing to competition by
in a position to make any additional charge beyond that at present contemplated. 18. Paradoxical though it may appear, I am not at all clear that the very small proportion of dead weight as compared with paying load referred to by Mr. Prestage in the ninth paragraph of his letter is altogether a benefit.
See Memo- randum of 17th April last, Table III
See Memo-
randum of 17th April last, para. 6.
carts,
The cost of carriage and wagon repairs upon the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway appears to be per train mile Rs. 0.25 (it will be remembered that the trains only possess about one-fifth the capacity for dealing with the traffic possessed by the trains on the Nanu Oya Railway), and that this item absorbs 7·03 per cent of the gross receipts,
Upon the Nanu Oya Railway in 1884 the corresponding figures are Rs. 0.16 per train mile, and 3-5 per cent. of the gross receipts.
If, however, the question be looked at from the point of the cost per ton mile of goods
and passengers carried, the difference will be even more striking.
Upon the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway the total ton miles of goods and passengers Ibid, Table in 1884 was (sce paragraph 7 of this Report) 712,069, while the cost of carriage and wagon repairs was Rs. 30,586, thus giving per ton mile an average cost of Rs. 0'043 nearly.
III
Ihid, Table
IV.,
and post- script, para.
2.
See Memo. randlum of 17th. April
Inst, Table
III.
Upon the Ceylon railways generally in 1884 the traffic was equal to 9,773,026 tons of goods and 29,151,117 passengers carried one mile; dividing the number of passenger miles by 10 as adopted by Mr. Prestage to reduce them to passenger ton miles, the total ton miles of goods and passengers together, viz., 12,688,138 is arrived at. The total cost of carriage and wagon repairs was Rs. 118,000, thus giving a cost per ton mile of Rs. 0.0093, or only a little more than one-fifth of the cost on the Darjeeling Railway. It would thus appear that the reduction in dead weight of the wagons mentioned by Mr. Prestage has been obtained at the cost of their strength, and to this, as well as perhaps to a certain extent the greater wear and tear they must experience in passing round the sharp curves adopted, must be ascribed the larger proportionate cost of their repairs.
19. It must also be borne in mind that these light wagons and carriages in such a narrow gauge as 2 feet only would be much less able to withstand the force of the wind, which is at certain times of the year very violent in the country traversed by the Haputale Extension, than the much heavier wagons in use on the broad gauge.
The overturning of a whole train by the wind, even upon the 5 feet 6 inches gauge is by no means an unprecedented occurrence (it has, I understand, twice happened upon the East Indian Railway), and such an accident upon a railway like that to Haputale would at many points result in the certain death of every person in the train.
20. I have not yet in this Report touched upon the questions of:-
A. The adequacy of a railway on the Darjeeling Himalayan type to carry the traffic
anticipated on the proposed Haputale Extension.
B. The comparative rates for goods and passengers charged on the Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway and those in force in Ceylon.
C. The inconvenience and cost of break of gauge at Nanu Oya.
21. It may be well, however, briefly to mention them before closing this Report. Question A. has been fully discussed already by me in paragraph 26 of my memo- randum of the 17th April last, in which I have, I think, conclusively shown that, comparing the number of trains run each way daily on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway with the traffic carried on that line, it would probably be necessary upon the Haputale Extension, if that line were made on the Darjeeling Himalayan type, to run about six goods trains and eight passenger trains each way daily, a number, I think, about three times as many as could be safely worked on a single line through such a country, where for some time, at any rate after its completion, trains could not be run with safety at night. Instead of looking at the question of traffic from the point of view adopted by Mr. Prestage, viz., the tonnage carried each way daily, which is, I think, misleading, as all reference to the length of railway from which the traffic is derived is omitted a much fairer way of examining it is, I consider, by inquiring into the number of tons of goods carried on each mile of railway open per annum, and viewed in this way passengers the figures are so striking that, although they are given in the Memorandum which I
1
and
35
95
have so frequently quoted, it may be worth while to place them in juxtaposition
here.
Mean mileage worked miles
1884.
Tons of goods carried during the year
Tous of goods per mile open per annum
Total number of passengers carried during the year Number of passengers per mile of railway worked per
annum .
-
Number of tons of goods carried one milo Number of passengers carried one mile
Number of train miles per mile of open line per annum
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Ceylon Railways generally.
Nanu Oys
Bailway
50 16,730 835
31,177
162.2 187,360 1,231 2,111,334
13.07
17,728
1,356
63,898*
623
+611,4×1 1,005,890 2,461
13,872 9,773,020 29,151,117 4,009
4,889† 339,365
2,489
• Calculated from amount received. ↑ Calculated from figures in returns.
It thus follows that upon the Nanu Oya Railway in 1884, in order to carry more than four times as many tons of goods and nearly eight times as many passengers per mean mile of railway worked, it was only necessary to run about the same number of train miles per mile of railway open as upon the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Mamo-
1
22. With regard to question B., it may be remarked that the average rate charged on the Darjeeling line for first, second, and third class goods per ton per mile is exactly See Memo- double that charged upon the Nanu Oya Railway, while the average sum received for randum of rrying one passenger per mile is more than four times the sum received for doing the 17th April same work on the Ceylon railways, and I have further pointed out that with the traffic last, para. 17. obtained in 1884 upon the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, had the rates been lowered to See Post- those ruling on the Nanu Oya line in that year, a dead loss of Rs. 20,607, instead of a
script to profit in working, would have resulted. Since that date the rates on the Nanu Oya random of Railway have been reduced, and at the rates now ruling the loss would have been 17th April Rs. 60,901.
last, parn. 2. The effective paying loads of the trains, even on the Nanu Oya Railway, where they Sea Memo- are less than on any other part of the Ceylon Railway system, being 1.75 times that of
17th April the trains on the Darjeeling Railway, renders a comparison of the working expenses per last, pars. 23. train mile inexact, but viewed from this stand point they are Rs. 2-34 on the Darjeeling See Memo- line and Rs. 3.54 on the Nanu Oya line.
randum of
randum of
A fairer comparison will be found by inquiring into their amount per ton mile, and 17th April viewed in this way, it is found, as stated in paragraph 7 of this report, that they were
1886, Table III. upon the Darjeeling Railway in 1884 Rs. 0 405, while upon the Ceylon railways generally in the same year they were Rs. 107. In other words, it cost the Government only a little more than one quarter of the sum that it cost the Darjeeling Railway Company to haul one ton one mile. I think I have thus shown that the economy in working expenses claimed by Mr. Prestage on behalf of the narrow gauge is entirely without foundation in fact, and it follows therefore, that the remunerative character of the Darjeeling Railway solely results from the high rates charged, which competition will not permit the Government to levy in Ceylon.
23. As regards question C., I think I need say but very few words. I am not aware whether Mr. Prestage includes in his offer the erection of the workshops and large additions to the buildings and siding accommodation, which a break of gauge at Nanu Oya would entail, but I presume he does not, and that his offer is merely to lay the permanent way and to provide the rolling stock, leaving all other expenditure to be borne by the Government. The general manager of the railway and the locomotive engineer are in a better position than I am to judge to what extent accommodation of this character will be necessary, and I need only say that Nanu Oya, owing to the configuration of the ground, the large interference with the public road and village there, which any extension of the station and buildings will entail, would be a most inconvenient spot for providing it, and that a very large expenditure would be thus entailed, and it must also be remembered that besides the large cost in the first instance of the new works and buildings necessary, the working expenses of the line will be saddled in perpetuity with the cost, which, though it may be theoretically and upon but small, will I venture to say in practice prove to be very heavy, of unloading paper and reloading every ton of goods passing that station.
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