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460. SCHEMES ALREADY IN OPERATION  (Contd.)

2.  Watford - St.Albans

(a)  Traffic receipts to 30.6.56. shown on Appendix "A" attached.

(b)  Future utilisation of units.   The Chairman said that, having regard to the cost of the units in operation and the cost to replace them by standard diesel unts, it was not desirable simply to displace the present units and there seems no prospect of them being taken over by any other Region.  It is not desirable to revert to steam working on this branch and at the moment there seems to be no alternative but to continue with working by the present units.

The Chairman raised the point of the condition of the track and Mr.Butland said it was shortly hoped to start an experiment with welding of rails into long lengths, starting with a portion where concrete sleepers exist. This may give improved running.

(c)  Costs of operation.   Noted that until recently the erratic availability of the B.U.T. units had made a post-costing of diesel operation of this service impracticable but the units had now been working with little of no interruption since May last and there was a fair basis for an assessment of current costs.

The Chairman asked that a report be furnished to the Committee on the basis of the present conditions, diesel compared with steam, treating the Watford - St.Albans and Harrow - Belmont services as one combined service and showing also the effect of substituting the existing B.U.T. units by standard diesel units.  The report should, in addition, include up-to-date information as to the reliability of the diesel units since their introduction.

3.  Bury - Bacup Scheme

(a)  Traffic receipts to 30.6.56. shown on Appendix "A" attached.

(b)  Additional unit.  Report in justification of additional unit will be submitted shortly.

(c)  Costs of operation.   Mr.Nicholls stated that a post-costing of diesel working on this line is now possible but the service has been in operation only since 6th February 1956 and the costing period is necessarily short.  The Committee felt that 12 months experience was desirable before a conclusive report was submitted but in the meantime the Chairman requested that a broad assessment should be made, based on present experience.