minute rest before a second run to Zurich as the Gottardo. A second train leaves Zurich in the morning as the southbound Gottardo, then after just over 2 hours rest in Milan, it becomes the northbound Cisalpin for Paris. The task of the third train is a bit easier merely to make the southbound Cisalpin run. The fourth is held in reserve at Zurich to protect against possible mishaps to any of the other three. This is ingenious scheduling, calling for onthe-toes operation.

Electrification of the busy mainline to Alsace-Lorraine and the German border has progressed westward to Chateau Thierry and is expected to be completed to Paris within the year. Already vigorous speedups have been effected, resulting in times of 311.7 miles in 278 minutes (three stops) Paris to Strasbourg and 219.3 miles in 186 minutes (one stop) Metz to Paris, fastest time ever scheduled on these runs. The latter is by a new international train leaving Frankfurt in the morning and covering 401.6 miles to Paris in 6 hours 50 minutes. Return is in the late afternoon over a slightly shorter route, with arrival in the German city before midnight. Since both cities rate high on most itineraries, this train should prove popular with American tourists. Another new French service worth noting is that of Le Capitole between Paris and Toulouse in the wine country north of the Pyrenees. Using the direct route "straight down the middle" through Limoges, this train covers 443.5 miles in 7 hours each way. Formerly the quickest time to Toulouse was made by using the Sud Express to Bordeaux and close rail-car connection (still available) over the cross-country

Bordeaux-Narbonne route. The distance is some 76 miles greater.

In Germany we find an absence of spectacular speedups or the introduction of new trains; rather there are modest cuts in time of service as a whole. Major changes in timetables have a more far-reaching effect in Germany than in most countries because of the vast network of heavily traveled routes and important junctions. The improved showing in this year's listing, which records the first German 75 mph point-to-point runs since the outbreak of World War II, is largely attributed to the raising of the maximum authorized speed from 120 kmph (74.5 mph) to 140 kmph (87 mph) on many lines.

Italian Railways appears to have a predilection for speeding up in even

J. P. Lamb Jr.

IC's City of Miami pauses in Champaign, Ill., after averaging 71.9 from Kankakee.

numbered years and slowing down in the alternating years, and so it was "off" in 1961. However, considerable maintenance of way work has added minutes here and there. Unlike so many of their American contemporaries, Italian businessmen remain loyal to rail travel and demand the utmost in luxurious comfort. As a result, added parlor and lounge cars have increased the weight of trains, making necessary the easing of schedules.

The high-speed service between Moscow and Leningrad has been expanded to twice daily after the manner of the Burlington's Twin Cities Zephyrs. The December 1961 Trains Illustrated carried an account of radical accelerations on another important Russian main line, that to Kursk, Kharkov, and the southeast. The through time of 5 hours 13 minutes for the 333-mile Moscow-Kursk run listed in these notes appeared astonishing enough, but the various point-to-point times shown, such as 95 minutes for 117 miles between Tula and Orel and an unbelievable 89 minutes for 120 miles 80.9 mph - Moscow to Tula, bordered on the fantastic. The figures were based on erroneous advance data furnished to Cook's Continental Timetable. Later information reveals that the best time Moscow to Kursk is actually 6 hours 38 minutes-an average of 50.3 mph, which is still very fine for the Soviet Union today. In view of what the Russians have already accomplished in modernizing their rail system and of the Kremlin's enlightened, realistic concept of the railroad's proper place in the over-all transportation scheme, don't be surprised if they do come up with a genuine 80

mph run or two in the near future.

In Great Britain the picture has two aspects. On the one side is the inauguration of the West Riding Pullman on a flat 3-hour schedule from Leeds to London-best postwar time on this 185.7-mile run. Northbound the 71.9 mph average from Hitchin to Retford equals the all-time British record that of the Coronation London to York back in 19381939. Another fine schedule is that of the fast morning train from Newcastle to London, 268.3 miles, in 255 minutes, inclusive of a Darlington stop. This service affords businessmen a noontime arrival in the capital. On the other side, we find the Bristolean, Britain's fastest train for several years past, slowed by no less than 14 minutes (for which a stop inserted at Bath cannot be entirely to blame) and now just one of the pack on the LondonBristol run. On the route to Penzance, the famous Cornish Riviera Express, now stopping at Taunton and Exeter, requires 8 minutes more for the run to Plymouth than in 1906 when the cutoff through Westbury was opened. Though it is sad to see these proud trains downgraded, service as a whole over these routes has been improved through the spacing of trains at hourly intervals throughout the business day for Bristol and every 2 hours on the Cornwall runs.

Elsewhere in Europe we find runs at better than 70 mph for the first time in Danish, Dutch, and Swedish timetables, and Portugal has aimed high in crossing the 60 line for the first time with two runs at 65.7 mph.

Continuing rapid industrial and economic expansion in Japan has brought about a revamping of timetables throughout the country. The crack 62-hour Tokyo-Osaka service has been doubled with eight trains each way, leaving at intervals from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; but this is only a small part of the story. Limited express service has been more than doubled with virtually every main line boasting at least one streamliner. Tokyo Central Station in the evening is a train-watcher's heaven: commuter trains leave on 2-minute headway and a through train pulls out every 10 minutes between 7:50 p.m. and 10:10

p.m.

The following figures were released by JNR:

INCREASE OF FAST TRAIN SERVICE

Additional Total

52 236 434

Baggage train

Freight

Total cost of this ambitious program, covering 38 new locomotives, 796 passenger and 6500 freight cars, plus improvements in track, yards, and station facilities, comes to 105 million dollars.

Would that our systems had that much cash in the till today!

U. S. SYSTEMS do not have it nor are they likely to have any surplus unless conditions change rapidly for the better. However, comparison of the aggregate mileage totals in the various speed categories listed on page 52 with those for 1961 is certain to cause surprise.

The loss of a bare 721 miles in daily operation in the U. S. at the basic 65 mph minimum seems to indicate that the steep decline of recent years is finally leveling off. In addition, the 70 mph column shows an increase of 1166 miles (7.8 per cent) and the 2950 miles posted at 75 mph is the best since 1958. Had not Santa Fe eased out two of its former 80 mph timings, a gain could have been recorded in the highest range as well.

How do we arrive at such results in the face of the ever continuing decline in passenger services throughout the nation? Indeed, the current speed survey is likely to be understood and appreciated only by those within the industry, keen students of railroading, and the statistical-minded. The bottom of the barrel has been scraped to come up with reasons for the railroads' unexpectedly good showing in 1961.

Santa Fe's new fast line in Arizona has not yet brought about faster over22 all schedules; time gained there has been given back on other districts. In

duced to 90, leaving Illinois Central's Illinois Division the lone survivor of all the superspeed territories. Nevertheless, small adjustments in time throughout the system have enabled Santa Fe to improve its showing in the 65-70 mph range and take a commanding lead in passenger as well as freight-train speed.

How can we explain New York Central's increases in all categories in which it appears, despite consolidation of the New England States with the Pacemaker west of Buffalo and sharp curtailments elsewhere? The answers: the speeding up of the westbound North Shore Limited (still pretty much of a maid-of-all-work) by a full hour; of the Pacemaker by 34 minutes east of Buffalo; of the Southwestern by a half hour on its St. LouisCleveland run; and of other trains including the Ohio State Limited by 10 to 20 minutes. This activity was by far the most shown by any road in improving over-all time last year, and here we might mention the jointly operated New York-Montreal service in which the northbound Laurentian (combined with Empire State Express on New York Central) now makes the run in 9 hours - the fastest yearround daytime schedule ever operated.

For the first time, Delaware & Hudson crosses the 60 line with a spurt of 15.3 miles in 15 minutes from Fort Edward to Comstock. Many will be surprised that conservative, wellmanaged D&H even threatens to make a speed survey.

The Milwaukee's surprising gain in the 70 column results from minute cuts in time on the fast track between Glenview and Milwaukee, plus an unexpected 70 mph performance in Montana by what is left of the Olym