The Commissioner for Railways, Mr N. _McCusker, said yesterday that his department reduced its operating costs by £2.25 million in the year ended June 30.
, He said tho reasons for the reduction included:—
• .Now equipment, _particularly dlescl locomotives.. ' . • All-round improvement of operating conditions _Hfhlch speeded up the movement of trains. • ¦
• Better utilisation of staff/ ' Mr McCusker, speaking nt a luncheon at the Millions Club, said the reduction in operating costs resulted from a determined effort by the department, not only to reduce costs, but to increase revenue.
He said that in 1958-59 tho depnrtment spent 5/8 of every £. it earned to maintain railway tracks and structures and to meet interest on capital invested in them.
f!nmmii_*isrfcit v_^_illi
Airlines
"On that point f believe we see a very decided difference when comparisons are made between the operations of the railways and other forms of transport," said Mr McCusker.
He said that in 1958-59 airline companies carried about two million people with fewer than 100 aircraft.
Government authorities and others, by providing landing fields, navigational aids and other facilities, virtually were subsidising the airline companies to the extent of '£2/10/ a passenger.
"People arc apt to form a wrong impression of what the railways do when they read arid hear what the airways have done," said Mr McCusker. - .
"The airways are able to concentrate on a special line of truffle.
"It is ens/er to operate on that basis than to have to provide for all contingencies, _as'tlje railways do."
Mr McCusker said the railways lost £10 million a year on country passenger services and £2.5 million n yenr on metropolitan passenger services.
The metropolitan services ran at a loss because the department was unable to get the maximum use out of its equipment for more than 20 hoifrs a week.
The railways would have to get 3,000 extra passengers a week to meet the cost of providing one extra eightcar train on the metropolitan services during peak hours.
"As seating capacity is only 568 per train you can sec how we would have to jam them in to even break even," he said.
Selling ServiceB To Public
Freight services absorbed only 30 per cent of the department s total effort but returned 70 per cent of its total revenue. "During the past few months we have appointed 15 commercial agents to sell railway services to the public," said Mr McCusker. 'They are meeting with a very large measure of success. "This success is brought about largely by the reliability , that people in industry now feel they can place on the railway services. "I hope we wilt be able to go on improving the efficiency of the service." Mr McCusker said the railways were never designed to run at a profit. If they find ban they would not be expected to run so many unprofitable services.
Improving The Efficiency
"That is no reason, however, why we should not do our utmost to produce and maintain a service at minimum cost and maximum efficiency," he said. "Rnilwaymen, from the commissioner down, have dedicated themselves to improving the efficiency so that the railways may continue to serve the people of this State."