Grand Trunk Railway betterments, construction, etc.

Track elevation in Montréal.—The City Engineering Department has submitted to the Board of Control a further estimate of the cost of elevating the G.T.R. tracks from Bonaventure station to St. Henri. The present estimate if $6,000,000 instead of the $8,000,000 originally estimated, and towards which the city obtained legislative authority to contribute $2,000,000. The last estimate of the G.T.R. placed the cost of the elevation at $10,000,000 and asked the city to increase its contribution by $500,000. The present estimate is the reply of the city to the railway company. The principal item upon which there has been a reduction in the city's estimates is in regard to the construction of the bridges across the streets. The city takes exception to the general plan adopted by the railway engineers, under which two sets of columns would be placed under the steel bridges which will span the city streets, piercing the embankment on which the tracks will run. The city officials hold that, in many cases, the columns provide unnecessary strength, and that single span bridges will suffice, thus reducing by a large amount the steel work required. The city, too, does not agree that the company should calculated on getting 6% interest on the capital employed in the improvement, and suggests that a lower rate should be substituted. The contention that 3% should be allowed as the cost of marketing securities which may be rendered necessary as a result of the charges imposed in both parties by the Railway Commission, is not acceptable.

It is expected that the report will be approved by the City Council at an early meeting after which it will go before the Board of Railway Commissioners for consideration along with the G.T.R. plans. (May, pg. 176.)

Railways: G.T.Ry.

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