While many attempts have been made to compare the capital per mile of the railways in different countries, such studies are made worthless through the divergence of political policies adopted with regard to early railway construction as earlier ex plained, through variations in the purchasing power of money at the different periods and wide differences in the number of tracks per route mile. The cost per route mile will naturally be greater in countries where there are long stretches of main lines with four or more tracks. Construction cost will also be greater in mountainous countries or on lines with an abundance of tunnels, on tube railways and on suburban lines where widenings are very costly. Frequently it may be profitable for a railway to widen a line, thus adding to capital expenditure, if by so doing mainte nance and train operating charges are reduced; or if, by added facilities, it is possible through hauling more traffic to increase the net revenue. Denser traffic requires added signalling equip ment which in turn forces expenditure in this direction. If com parisons are made between the capital per route or track mile between various countries care should be taken that the capital expenditure on ancillary services, such as hotels, steamboats and docks, are excluded from the British railway figure.
Apart from capital outlay which is expected to yield a return of interest in the form of added facilities or savings, operating expenses constitute the second type of railway expenditure. Of the total capital expenditure of the British railways, namely, £1,206,216,723 in 1926, £1,057,
had been expended on the railway proper, such as lines open for traffic, rolling stock, land and buildings, and the balance of almost £50 million had been spent on road vehicles, docks, steamboats, hotels, canals, and so forth. Thus with 37,058 m. of line reduced to single track but excluding sidings, the capital per track mile in Great Britain has been about £28,550. "Expendi ture in respect of railway working" on a British railway amounts to about 8o% of the traffic receipts per annum. Variations exist between the companies but maintenance and renewal of way and works accounts for about r r %, of locomotives 6%, of carriages 4%, of wagons 4%, locomotive running expenses 2o%, traffic expenses 28%, general charges including law and parliamentary expenses, compensation, national insurance and rates 7%. The ratio between expenditure on and the revenue derived from rail way operation is known as the "operating ratio." In Great Britain as in many other countries the management has little power in the regulation of wage rates, which form a large pro portion of total expenditure, and less as regards the level of freight rates which are determined by outside bodies. "Receipts in respect of railway working" are obtained from passenger and freight train traffic, the percentage from the former varying greatly between the four railways, being highest on the S.R. at
731% and lowest on the L.N.E.R. at 351%.
Few branches of railway organization have ex tended more rapidly during the 20th century than that of sta tistics. With the growing size of railway administrations it has become necessary for those responsible for railway management to be able to visualize daily and weekly the degree of operating efficiency in each district of the railway, and to study the finan cial situation as it develops from day to day. Traffic when lost is hard to regain if the loss is only discovered some time of ter wards. Similarly the unpunctuality of trains must be eliminated in the public interest as soon as possible. Railway statistics are also required by the Government departments responsible for the regulation of the railway industry, as well as by tribunals such as the Railway Rates Tribunal in Great Britain and the Interstate Commerce Commission in the United States, which are responsible for the regulation of railway charges scales. There are also large groups amongst the general public, such as financiers, bankers, economists and members of trade unions, to whom the figures of railway finance, traffic and general statistics are of the closest interest, while a nation has the right to know facts as to the physical condition of its most important form of land trans port. Thus in each country there are published railway returns. In Great Britain they consist of annual returns and monthly statistics published by the Ministry of Transport ; in the United States the Interstate Commerce Commission publishes an annual report and statistics concerning the American railroads, in addi tion to data on accidents, signalling, equipment, and so forth. In countries with State railways the annual reports usually give voluminous information, while in Germany the report of the Commissioner is a model for a report dealing with railway prog ress and finance. The statistics thus circulated to the public are usually termed external statistics, in addition to which, and where ever possible closely correlated to them, are figures dealing with railway operation which are primarily designed to help the rail way management itself. These are known as internal statistics, and frequently deal with figures as to costs. In fact the develop ment of cost statistics by railways has grown rapidly and with the fine margin existing between revenue and expenditure, as illustrated by the high operating ratio figure, continual stress is being laid upon accurate cost statistics. Unfortunately cost of movement of any one consignment by rail is difficult to arrive at in view of the large percentage of railway expenditure which is "fixed," that is to say, which continues irrespective of the amount of traffic hauled; one extra wagon on a freight train will add little to the cost of hauling the train. Each charge made for a passenger or a ton of freight should include an allowance to help to cover the fixed, or nearly fixed, items of expenditure.