Normal Passenger Services.

Passenger train services over the four group railways now under Government control continue to be improved. Every main-line has its quota of fast and stopping trains capable of meeting all needs, this notwithstanding the fact that the “black-out” has necessitated many freight trains normally run at night to be operated to new daylight timings. page 26 page 27 Restaurant and sleeping cars are available on all the important long-distance routes, and normal station amenities, such as refreshment service, are everywhere retained. In spite of Government demands, passengers by train can still obtain cheap day tickets, monthly return and week-end tickets, season tickets, traders' and workmen's tickets. On no route is there any restriction on civilian travel.

Night travel now approaches normal conditions. Black-out problems have one by one been solved, and improved lighting introduced without affecting the black-out efficiency. The new lighting enables passengers to read in comfort, and in general it has been adapted from the original half-light arrangements introduced at the beginning of the war. One circuit is provided with blue lights which are kept on continuously throughout the train, and the other circuit provides suitable shielded shoulder or ceiling lamps with white bulbs. Black metal shades project beyond the shoulder lamps to deflect the light below the window opening, and to prevent any appreciable amount of light falling on to platforms when car doors are open. The edges of each window are darkened with special paint, and blinds are drawn at sunset. On the Southern Railway an innovation on the main-line trains is the employment of a special travelling attendant, whose job it is to see that the lighting restrictions are scrupulously observed, and, in case of an air-raid warning, to switch off all the white lights and switch on the blue ones.