Cost—Finally, it may be desirable to state that in England the average cost of all the railways already executed has exceeded 33,0001.
per mile; but that there is little reason for calculating the cost of the railways which may have to be made hereafter at more than 16,0001. per mile, unless there should be an abnormal proportion of the line carried through town property. The rolling stock will be fouud to have coat from 20001. to 35001. per mile of railway ; and of the portion of the capital specially devoted to the construction of the roadway, in double lines of road, the earthworks will cost about 40 per cent. ; the permanent way 40 per cent.; bridges, &c., 12 per cent. ; and land 8 per cent. Of course, however, these figures must only be regarded as rough average approximations. Every line of railway presents its own peculiar difficulties and special causes of expenditure. Thus it has arisen that the average cost of the railways in England has borue to those of other countries so very remarkable a proportion. With us' they have cost nearly one-third more than in France ; twice as much as in Belgium ; two and a half times as much as in Germany; and about five times as much as in the United States of America.
Statist/es of Raihrqs.—It is difficult to collect any very trustworthy statistics of the precise state, at any particular moment, of a class of operations so essentially exposed to change as railways must be. The following table must therefore only be considered to represent the real state of the case in a very rude and approximate manner. Every month witnesses the opening of a new line of railway ; every year witnesses the adoption of the railway system in a new country.
In the year 1656 it was calculated that railways had becu com menced in Europe of the lengths subjoined. The population of the different countries is added. About three-fifths of the length then undertaken had been completed.
In Mr. Fenn's book, 'On the Funds,' he quotes (p. 400) from Mr. Danvers a table of perhaps greater interest than the one given above, insoniuch as it contains much information os to the cost of some of the railways, and as to their commercial results, not only in Europe, but in other quarters of the globe.
In addition to these figures, it may be as well to state that, according to the Report on the Railways of Great Britain, issued by the Depart ment of Railways iu 1859, the total number Of miles open for traffic The total sum raised and expended on these lines to the end of December, 1359, was not less than 335,435,0711.
The returns given by Mr. Consul Ward of Lcipsic show that iu Germany Proper, iu 1858, there were open for traffic 7360 miles of railway, which had cost about 120,000,0001.; and in addition thereto about 501 miles of railway had been opened in Hungary and Gollicia. The length of railway opened in the United States was, it the end of 1859, not less than 27,857 miles; they had been constructed at a cost of 192,209,478/., and they yielded a total revenue of 9,631,500/. nearly. In Canada there were 2061 miles of railway opened up to the same period; and, in our East Indian colonies, 065 miles; whilst in the Cape colony, Ceylon, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Demerara, Jamaica, Australia ; in the Brazils and the central American States, and in Cuba, numerous lines were opened, and in progress. The great company which is at work upon the main lines of Russia has undertaken to complete in ten years about 4162 miles of railroad ; whilst in Asia Minor and in Egypt there are short lengths already open to traffic. 1 In a very few years, indeed, railroads will be found in every civilised country, perhaps even to the exclusion of every other description of road ; for in proportion to the value attached to tune in commercial affairs will this rapid means of intercommunication become more and more uecessary. The rates at which goods trains now move are between 17 and 20 miles an hour • the passenger stopping trains travel at rates of between 27 and 30 miles, and the express trains at rates of between 37 and 45 miles per hour. In these days, when time is emphatically money, no nation, which desires to maintain its position in the world, can dispense with a system which enables it to travel under the same conditions of speed as its neighbours, notwithstanding that the cost may be considerably greater in one case than in another. The Dutch government st last has felt this truth, and even it has been induced to commence a series of railways which will involve an outlay of at least 10,000,0001. sterling.