Under the Thames at Woolwich

Taken from the Kearney Files
Sunday Times (Sydney N. S. W.) 26th  January 2919

Australian inventors tube railway scheme

What E. W. Chalmers Kearney proposed to do in the way of revolutionising London Transport.

Special interest attaches to a cable published inconspicuously in the daily Press during the week, mentioning the likelihood of Mr. Kearney, an Australian engineer, securing permission to construct a high - speed railway under the Thames at Woolwich. It is stated that several authorities in the great metropolis have already given their approval to the scheme, which would seem to indicate that the Kearney system of communication is likely shortly to be given the chance for which the inventor has long hoped.

For many years Mr. E. W. Chalmers Kearney has given the subject of rapid transport his earnest attention. He is a recognised expert on transportation. Mr. Kearney holds that one of the chief factors in economic production is the provision of adequate transport facilities for workers of every class.
Not content with having designed a new type of railway, Mr. Kearney has gone on to develop a wonderful tube system. It combines the advantages of both the deep - level tubes, known in London and the shallow cut - and - cover system, as exemplified by the District Railway. At the same time the inventor introduces some very significant additional advantages.
The proposal referred to in the cable quoted above was made with the object of providing high - speed tubes to connect the thickly populated banks of rivers, such as Woolwich and East Ham. In this case the tube need be a single one only, in which a single train would run backwards and forwards.
The immense convenience of such a tube to the public would insure the early adoption of the scheme, not only between Woolwich and East Ham, but in other places where bridges are not desired or possible.