From the Kearney Files
Sydney 30th March 1922
A TUBE FOR SYDNEY
Kearney High Speed Railway.
A new company has been registered in Sydney with the title The Kearney High Speed Railway Company (Australia), Ltd., with offices at 60 Margaret Street, Sydney. Mr. Kearney's Australian representative, Mr. Henry W, Booth, is the managing director, and Mr. R. T. D. O' Halloran A.S.AP.A., is secretary. Setting and representative board has been formed, and includes Alderman R. S. Gay (Mayor of Mosman), Alderman A. E. Whatmore (ex Mayor of North Sydney), Alderman L. T. Courtenay (Sydney City Council), and Mr. P. R. Higgins, the Sydney Barrister. The company is a parent concern and its first and chief object is to decide the concession from the Government for the construction of a high speed railway on the Kearney system between Milson's Point and Circular Quay.
Mr. Kearney's scheme has been reprinted in Sydney, and 20,000 copies have been distributed. The proposed tube has become a popular topic, and, if one may goby hearsay, iris the tube rather than the bridge which is favoured by the "man in the street" --- or rather, in this connection, " the man on the ferry." As it has been pointed out before, a railway tube would be much more convenient and rapid means of crossing the Harbour than the proposed bridge, which, with its be necessary long approaches. would be most inconvenient for a very large proportion of the traffic.
On the other hand, the tube would have its stations closely adjacent to the Harbour sides to serve the traffic from all points, and the large bulk of people having business near to Circular Quay would not be compelled to make two daily journeys on foot in the opposite direction to which they want to go in order to cross by a bridge.
Naturally, Sydney has its "Bridge Party," which has seized the occasion of the formation of the Australian Kearney Company to launch another Press campaign of criticism of and opposition to the tube. Many hostile statements are made, but no very tangible argument is brought forward, so that the belief in the tube of the scores of thousands of Sydney people to which it would be a tremendous boon remains in affected.
The arguments against the tube may be boiled down to : "it can't be done," "it shan't be done " and as an afterthought, "if it were done the tube could not carry the traffic." Yet, why should it not? The tube is designed to accommodate 20,000 passengers per hour each way. The maximum number of persons crossing the Harbour on all ferries in one hour is no more than this figure, but as a certain number of people will still travel by the ferries to such places as Mosman and Manly, it is seen that the tube will be able to carry the whole traffic likely to present itself. But should the growth in the number of passengers crossing the Harbour greatly increase -- as we believe it will --- what is there to prevent the duplication of the tube?
Indeed, we are informed by Mr. Kearney that his stations at either end will be do constructed as to allow duplication to take place at a future date with a maximum expense and without interference with the traffic. The stations are also designed with a view to the extension of the tube in both directions, and Mr. Kearney looks forward to the day when it will be possible to travel by means of a high speed railway from Cloves in the south so Manly and Narrabeen in the north, passing through the city by way of Pitt Street and Central Station. The line would be in the tube through the built up portions of the route, and would come to the surface so soon as circumstances permitted. Stations would be at short intervals in the city, and at longer intervals outside. A speed of transit it is claimed, could be given on such a line undreamed of by advocates of the bridge, in transit facilities Sydney would be the most up - to - date city in the world.
We feel sure that Sydney people will join with us in hoping that Mr. Kearney's vision of what may be is a true one, and in wishing him every success in its realisation.
Sydney 30th March 1922
A TUBE FOR SYDNEY
Kearney High Speed Railway.
A new company has been registered in Sydney with the title The Kearney High Speed Railway Company (Australia), Ltd., with offices at 60 Margaret Street, Sydney. Mr. Kearney's Australian representative, Mr. Henry W, Booth, is the managing director, and Mr. R. T. D. O' Halloran A.S.AP.A., is secretary. Setting and representative board has been formed, and includes Alderman R. S. Gay (Mayor of Mosman), Alderman A. E. Whatmore (ex Mayor of North Sydney), Alderman L. T. Courtenay (Sydney City Council), and Mr. P. R. Higgins, the Sydney Barrister. The company is a parent concern and its first and chief object is to decide the concession from the Government for the construction of a high speed railway on the Kearney system between Milson's Point and Circular Quay.
Mr. Kearney's scheme has been reprinted in Sydney, and 20,000 copies have been distributed. The proposed tube has become a popular topic, and, if one may goby hearsay, iris the tube rather than the bridge which is favoured by the "man in the street" --- or rather, in this connection, " the man on the ferry." As it has been pointed out before, a railway tube would be much more convenient and rapid means of crossing the Harbour than the proposed bridge, which, with its be necessary long approaches. would be most inconvenient for a very large proportion of the traffic.
On the other hand, the tube would have its stations closely adjacent to the Harbour sides to serve the traffic from all points, and the large bulk of people having business near to Circular Quay would not be compelled to make two daily journeys on foot in the opposite direction to which they want to go in order to cross by a bridge.
Naturally, Sydney has its "Bridge Party," which has seized the occasion of the formation of the Australian Kearney Company to launch another Press campaign of criticism of and opposition to the tube. Many hostile statements are made, but no very tangible argument is brought forward, so that the belief in the tube of the scores of thousands of Sydney people to which it would be a tremendous boon remains in affected.
The arguments against the tube may be boiled down to : "it can't be done," "it shan't be done " and as an afterthought, "if it were done the tube could not carry the traffic." Yet, why should it not? The tube is designed to accommodate 20,000 passengers per hour each way. The maximum number of persons crossing the Harbour on all ferries in one hour is no more than this figure, but as a certain number of people will still travel by the ferries to such places as Mosman and Manly, it is seen that the tube will be able to carry the whole traffic likely to present itself. But should the growth in the number of passengers crossing the Harbour greatly increase -- as we believe it will --- what is there to prevent the duplication of the tube?
Indeed, we are informed by Mr. Kearney that his stations at either end will be do constructed as to allow duplication to take place at a future date with a maximum expense and without interference with the traffic. The stations are also designed with a view to the extension of the tube in both directions, and Mr. Kearney looks forward to the day when it will be possible to travel by means of a high speed railway from Cloves in the south so Manly and Narrabeen in the north, passing through the city by way of Pitt Street and Central Station. The line would be in the tube through the built up portions of the route, and would come to the surface so soon as circumstances permitted. Stations would be at short intervals in the city, and at longer intervals outside. A speed of transit it is claimed, could be given on such a line undreamed of by advocates of the bridge, in transit facilities Sydney would be the most up - to - date city in the world.
We feel sure that Sydney people will join with us in hoping that Mr. Kearney's vision of what may be is a true one, and in wishing him every success in its realisation.
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