1957-1958 — Page 6

6. A new timetable was introduced on 21st July, 1957, after full dieselization of the normal main line trains. This timetable has proved highly practical and economical.

7. Sir George Seel and Mr. R. W. Taylor visited the Railway on 13th June, 1957, to look into the stores supplied through the Crown Agents.

8. Mr. V. A. M. Robertson, a consulting engineer from Messrs. Sir William Halcrow and Partners in the United Kingdom, visited the Railway on 20th January, 1958, to report on the siting of a new railway terminal to replace the existing station at Tsim Sha Tsui. He left the Colony on 28th January, 1958.

9. All members of the staff worked well. In particular, the difficulties in recruitment of new railway clerks threw considerable extra work on the traffic staff and they are to be commended for the efficiency and willingness with which they carried out their duties without adequate time off in lieu of extra hours.

TRAFFIC

10. Traffic earnings for the financial year increased slightly over those of the previous year. Comparative figures are shown below:

1957/58 $7,170,658

1956/57 $7,110,867

Increase $59,791 or 0.84%

11. Passenger Traffic. Passenger journeys, local, increased by 16.10%, while non-local decreased by 14.38%.

12. On 5th April, 1957, the Ching Ming Festival, 22 special trains were run in addition to the normal service to facilitate passengers visit- ing the cemeteries at Wo Hop Shek and Lo Wu. Passengers on that day alone were 65,579, surpassing the figure for the same day in the previous year by 4,469.

13. The figures for passenger traffic, showing number of journeys. and revenue, appear in Appendix VI.

14. Goods Traffic. Although in June 1957, the United Kingdom Government sanctioned a partial lifting of the ban on trade with the Chinese Mainland, goods traffic as a whole decreased by 12.35% in tonnage and 10.56% in receipts compared with the previous year. The increasing use of lighters and junks towed by launches for conveying goods to and from Canton was the cause of the year's decrease in goods. traffic.

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