Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

to furnish to the Board of Trade-incomplete as they admittedly were had at least the essential feature of uniformity, and afforded a great amount of most valuable and reliable information which, with some amplifications, would enable much closer approximations to be arrived at in the separate determination of the passenger and goods traffic expenses. Amongst the most needed of these requirements was a statement showing the average number of vehicles in passenger and goods trains respectively, the average number of miles each passenger and ton of goods was carried, so that the passenger-mile and the ton-mile units might be ascertained. The railway companies' reports should also give separately the main well defined items of the working expenses attributable to the passenger and goods traffic respectively, as was for many years furnished in the reports of the London and North Western Railway Company.

As regards the few minor and indeterminate items to which reference had been made by Mr. Acworth and Mr. Owen, their entire omission or arbitrary apportionment would in no way appreciably affect the relative ratios of the large aggregate amounts which constituted the main items. Another and much needed requirement was a statement separately distinguishing the goods, mineral, and mixed train mileages, any difficulty in the apportionment of the latter being effectively dealt with as in the case of the minor and indeterminate items already alluded to. The goods and mineral train mileage, inextricably mixed up as it was at present, was utterly valueless when used as a factor or common divisor for correctly ascertaining either the goods or mineral receipts and expenses per train mile, inasmuch as 90 per cent. of the mineral trains were hauled back empty on their return journey; in other words 45 per cent. of the entire mineral train mileage was unremunerative, and the cost of its working solely attributable to the mineral traffic, whereas in the case of the goods trains the empty return mileage on an average did not exceed 5 per cent. of the entire goods mileage, so that altogether 25 per cent. of the combined mileages of the goods and minerals was non-paying, 22 per cent. being solely attributable to the mineral, and only 2 per cent. to the goods traffic.

The combined goods and mineral train mileage of the London and North Western Railway for the year 1894 was roundly twenty million miles (19,999,222). From an analysis of the respective tonnage of the goods and minerals the average "leads," &c., it would appear that the mileages of the goods and minerals, including in each case, the empty mileages, were about equal."

[blocks in formation]

Assuming this to be the case, the full and empty train mileages in each case would be as follows:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The railway rates charged per ton per mile had reference only to the mileage the traffic was forwarded, no account being taken of the large amount of the empty return mileage, more especially in the case of the mineral traffic, the effect therefore of employing this large and unremunerative mileage as a factor in determining the receipts or expenses per train mile of either the goods or mineral traffic was unduly to diminish both, particularly in the case of the mineral traffic, as would be seen from a reference to Table A, Part II, in the appendix to the paper, where the depreciative effects of the mileage of the empty return trains had been eliminated, both in the case of the goods and mineral traffic.

As bearing upon the important question of the apportionment of the passenger and merchandise traffic expenses, it should be mentioned that the New York Central Railway Company's annual reports, like those of the London and North Western, had for many years given these expenses separately and continued to do

So.

A comparison in the case of these two great railway systems for the year 1894 conclusively showed that, although the working expenses severally attributable to the passenger and merchandise traffic had been independently worked out and in much detail, the ultimate ratios of apportionment in both cases corresponded almost exactly with the ratios the receipts from each class of traffic bore to the entire traffic receipts of each railway, and afforded the strongest testimony not only to the soundness of the economic principle that the working expenses properly attributable to each branch of railway traffic should have close, if not exact, relation to the gross earnings in each case, but to the fact that they disclosed that the traffic was properly and economically worked

the New York Central passenger receipts, for instance, in 1894 amounted to 37 per cent. of the gross revenue of that company, and the expenses attributed to it to almost exactly the same percentage of the total working expenses; while in the case of the London and North Western the passenger traffic receipts for the same year were 42.36 per cent. (Table A) and the working expenses attributed to it amounted to almost exactly the same percentage of the total expenses, viz., 42 08 per cent. (Table A, Part II, Appendix).

The expenses severally attributable to the goods and mineral traffic were not given in the New York Central reports, the mineral traffic expenses however of the London and North Western Railway in 1894, as worked out in detail in the paper, amounted to just 233 per cent. (23.56 per cent.) of the aggregate working expenses, somewhat in excess of the ratio which the mineral receipts bore to the total traffic receipts for the year, viz., 2116 per cent. (Table A, Part I), and were due to the increased cost of working the large amounts of the non-paying empty return mineral trains.

Full particulars were given in the tables appended to the paper of the method adopted in the apportionment of the working expenses of the London and North Western Railway: it might, however, be desirable to explain that the main items under the head of "Permanent Way, Works, &c.," relating to the maintenance and renewal of the line had been apportioned as between the passenger and merchandise traffic in the ratios of the respective train mileages, and as between the goods and minerals in the ratios of the gross tonnages of the respective trains.

In the case of the locomotive expenses, which constituted on an average about one-fourth of the entire working expenses of a railway, the wages item of the running expenses was apportioned in the ratios of the passenger and goods train mileages, divided by the average speed of the respective trains: the fuel consumed by the locomotives (the cost of which amounted to nearly one-fourth of the entire locomotive expenses) in the ratios of the respective train mileages, multiplied by the average consumption per mile, the apportionment of the locomotive expenses as between goods and minerals being in the respective ratios of the gross tonnages hauled by each class of train. The remaining items of the working expenses where "wear and tear" was not concerned were allocated in the several ratios of the receipts derived from the respective classes of traffic.

The apportionment of the working expenses of a railway under the respective Board of Trade headings of "Station and Service Terminals" and "Conveyance" was a much easier matter, inasmuch as the chief items given in the companies' reports were in most cases chargeable almost in their entirety either under one or other of these headings, notably the "Permanent Way," "Works of Line," &c. In the case of station and signal repairs and renewals, where the cost of the labour was not given separately, it was estimated to equal that of material, in accordance with what obtained in all properly maintained structures subject to

[ocr errors]

wear and tear," as illustrated in the case of locomotive repairs and renewals, where during a period of years the average cost of the labour and materials used had been found to correspond almost exactly,13 the slight diminution of late years in the item of labour being attributable to the improved quality and greater durability of the material-steel, and the consequent saving in the cost of the labour expended in its repair.

As regards the apportionment of the large items of salaries and wages under the head of "traffic expenses," and the omission under the head of "conveyance" of the wages of the guards of passenger and goods trains, to which Mr. Acworth had drawn attention, it should be explained that the omission of this small and indeterminate amount (which, strictly speaking, should not be entirely attributed to "conveyance," inasmuch as a portion of their services were required at stations, more especially in the case of goods and minerals trains) would not appreciably affect the results given in Table 7. The same remark applied to the indeterminate amount of the portion of the wages of signalmen, which, as Mr. Owen pointed out, should also be attributed to “ convey. ance." The amount, however, would be very small, and limited to the cost of their services whilst occupied in signalling "through running" trains, their services whilst engaged in signalling "stopping" trains being partly attributable to "station" services and partly to "conveyance," and wholly attributable to stations whilst signalling the engines engaged in shunting and marshalling trains in station yards and within the limits of the distant signals.

On the other hand, and as a set off against any such omissions in the apportionment of minor and indeterminate items of expenses properly attributable to "conveyance," it should be pointed out that the locomotive expenses connected with the shunting and marshalling of trains, &c., at stations, and chargeable to "station services," had, owing to the impossibility of determining their cost since the railway companies' reports no longer furnished the shunting mileage as they used to do with the other items of locomotive expenses, been wholly attributed to " conveyance.'

It was scarcely necessary after what he had already said in regard to the inappreciable effect of the apportionment of these minor items of expenses, to refer to Mr. Acworth's contention, that a portion of the small item of compensation to passengers for accidents occurring at stations should be attributed to the latter: he might however state that an analysis of the Board of Trade Returns, showed that out of the 1,489 passengers either injured or killed on the railways in the United Kingdom during 1895, the accidents which occurred to 1,192, or 80 per cent. of the passengers, were due "to the movement of the trains," while of those which happened at stations to the remaining 297 passengers, 38 only, or just 2 per cent. of the entire number of passengers, were injured by falling over packages, or being struck by barrows, &c., on station platforms, possibly entitling them to compensation.

13 Molesworth, p. 266, Locomotive Repairs and Renewals : Labour, 1'55d. per train mile; material, 1°75d. per train mile.

Full details, however, were given in the returns of the accidents on each railway, and there would be no difficulty in such cases in accurately apportioning these expenses, were such extreme refinement in the process necessary. Sir Courtenay Boyle was under a misapprehension in supposing that the particular figures he quoted from the table in the paper, relating to the maximum authorised "A" class rates per ton per mile were mean" or average figures at all, or intended to be considered as such, the 19 pence referred to merely represented the total amount of the particular rate for a distance of 20 miles, the 42'5 and 50 pence similarly showing the total amounts of the rates for the respective distances of 50 and 100 miles. These amounts, however, were essential factors in the calculation for determining an average, inasmuch as the aggregate of the amounts for the given mileage in each case when divided by the aggregates of the respective mileages, gave 0656 of a penny as the average or true "mean" rate per ton per mile of the several rates given in the schedule, which varied from 0.95 of a penny for 20 miles to o'50 of a penny per ton per mile for a distance of 100 miles, the arithmetical mean, viz., 0767 per ton per mile, being obviously incorrect. The object of the table was to show the relation which the average authorised maximum rates for the "A" class, bore to those at present charged by the London and North Western Company within the same limits of distance. It should be pointed out that in the case of the London and North Western the "A" class were given separately, whilst the "B and C " classes to which the Chairman referred, were in the case of nearly all the other principal railways grouped with the other higher classes of merchandise.

He particularly desired to draw attention to Diagram No. 5, which showed graphically and to scale the various London and North Western authorised maximum conveyance rates for different classes of merchandise other than minerals, and more especially to the upper and red scored dotted line showing to scale the average of all the authorised rates, viz., 179d. for the conveyance of a ton one mile within the limits of 150 miles, which, as already explained in the paper, was about the average "lead" of the goods traffic: the lower scored dotted line similarly showing the average rates at present charged by the London and North Western Company for all these classes of goods, including terminals, viz., 0.88 of a penny per ton per mile, the wide difference observable between the averages of the maximum authorised rates and those actually charged by this Company affording conclusive proof, if proof were needed, that, as in the case of the third class passenger traffic, it was from the lower classes of goods that this and most of the other principal railway companies in this country derived the great bulk of their paying revenue.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »