UNDERGROUND TRAFFIC.

SPEEDING-UP TRIALS.

A new device to expedite travel in London underwent trial yesterday on the District Railway. At Victoria Station during the rush hours of the morning and evening trains were timed in and out by stop-watch, the period during which they were stationary being limited to thirty seconds clear. At the expiration of the allotted time a steam siren warned the station staff to close all doors, and the guard gave the customary “right away” signal from the rear. The system worked with such success at its first trial that it will doubtless become permanent at Victoria, and be extended to other of the busiest Underground stations of the metropolis. It is a small but none the less effective contribution towards the solution of that vexed problem of congestion which has presented itself to the organisers of London’s traffic since the war. Common to all our systems of transport, it has been acutely felt on the Underground electric railways, where speeding up has already been carried to the limit of safety so far as the number of trains actually running is concerned. Few members of the public probably visualise London’s great underground system as it appears to those actually responsible for its working and its safety. A representative of The Daily Telegraph was granted a glimpse of the department from which the traffic of the District Railway is directed at Earl’s-court. In touch with everything that is happening on the remotest portions of the line, a young man sits before a switchboard, which is in effect the nerve centre of the system. His decisions, to meet every variety of contingency from minor breakages to serious dislocations, have to be immediate and unerring, for, once made, they may not be revised or rectified. Upstairs, presiding over the network of crossing lines and flying junctions round and about the station, a signalman worked in a trim little cabin before a keyboard of miniature signal levers. His eyes were glued to a large-scale illuminated map, on which the passage of trains through the different sections was marked automatically by black shadows as the light behind was blotted out. As train followed train in and out of the station the dark patches flitted over the landscape in a manner bewildering to the stranger. The eyes of the signalman, with their fifteen years of experience, took them in at a glance. His hands, working in complete accord, passed swiftly among his levers, weaving the black shadows of the diagram into intricate lattice-work as the trains below helter-skeltered in perfect safety. It was easy to stand in the signal-box and realise the truth of the assurance of a high traffic official that as many trains were being run on the District as the line could safely absorb in its working. At some of the central stations of the line trains up and down already number nearly 200 per hour at certain periods of the day. Needless to say, such traffic, thanks to automatic signalling and the like, can be conducted without danger to life and limb. But traffic authorities are confident that the limit has been reached. “We have signals wherever we can get them,” said an official of the District Railway. “We could manage slightly longer trains if we had the stock. But to put on more trains, as one hears so very often urged in public, is out of the question.”

A “RUSH” SCENE.

The District Railway, however, is not disposed to relax its endeavours to exploit new ideas, and that tried at Victoria Station yesterday is not the only one under consideration. Victoria was chosen as the scene of the experiment because it has long been the busiest of all the centres of the line. Even during the slackest periods the platforms fill with amazing speed and regularity between trains, as the main line arrivals find their way from the London, Brighton, and South Coast and the South-eastern termini on the ground level. Hitherto platform staffs of six men have had to do duty at the rush hours on up and down platforms. For the purposes of yesterday’s trial the number was doubled. Twelve men, selected for their experience, their promptitude, and their tact in handling passengers met each incoming electric train. An official with a stop-watch overlooked each platform, and at the end of half a minute pulled a chain and sounded the siren affixed to one of the girders in the roof of the station. The attendant at each door packed in his last passenger, stemmed the tide of people waiting to embark, closed the door, and signalled “all clear” to the guard. Out of seventy-three trains dealt with between eight and ten o’clock, only ten invoked the aid of the warning siren to hasten its departure. One of them took as long as 37sec to clear the station, but experience has shown that double the time has not infrequently been necessary in the past. The “one man, one door” arrangement undoubtedly contributed to the splendid results obtained during the course of the trial, the despatch of trains in from 10sec to 20sec being fairly common. The traffic, however, was not quite as brisk as usual; some business people having evidently restrained themselves from joining in the rush back to the City so soon after Christmas. A gratifying feature of the affair was the pleasant manner in which the public fell in with the procedure required of them. Many with time on their hands missed several trains to watch the man with the stop-watch at work, and then fell in wholeheartedly with those awaiting places in the next train. On only two occasions was it necessary to leave intending passengers on the platform. The officials who watched the trial were delighted with the eagerness with which the passengers grasped their part of the programme. “They took it splendidly,” said one to a Daily Telegraph representative.