Ratio of Operating Expenses to Gross Earnings (Four Roads) in 1900.

Ratio of Operating Expenses to Gross Earnings, 1891–1900.

Earnings and Expenses per Mile of Road Operated. The average gross earnings and expenses of operation, and the net earnings from operation, per total mile of road operated by the four leading companies for the last year, and by all of the companies for each of the past ten years, are shown in the following tables :

Earnings and Expenses per Mile of Road Operated (Four Roads)

Earnings and Expenses per Mile of Road Operated, 1899-1900.

Earnings and Expenses per Revenue-Train Mile.

The average gross earnings and expenses of operation, and the net earnings from operation, per total mile run by trains earning revenue, on all of the roads, for each of the last ten years, have been as follows:

Earnings and Expenses per Total Revenue-Train Mile, 1891-1900.

Earnings and Expenses per Revenue-Train Mile (Four Roads) in 1900.

The average gross earnings from operation per passengertrain mile and per freight-train mile, and the gross and net earnings and operating expenses per total revenue-train mile, on the four leading railroads of the State, are given for the last year in the preceding table.

The expenses of operation per passenger-train mile and per freight-train mile, respectively, cannot be stated, because the operating expenses of the passenger department are not kept by the companies separately from those of the freight department.

Earnings and Expenses per Total Train Mile.

The average gross earnings and operating expenses per train mile of all trains, including switching, construction and other trains not earning revenue, on all of the roads for the last ten years, and on each of the four leading roads for the last two years, are stated in the following tables :

Earnings and Expenses per Total Train Mile, 1891-1900.

Earnings and Expenses per Total Train Mile (Four Roads) in 1899

Boston & Albany, .

Boston & Maine,
Fitchburg,

$1.264 $1.328 $0.804 80.876 $0.460 $0.452 1.163 1.211 .797 .846 .366 .365 1.205 1.287 .837 .856 .368 .431

N. Y., N. H. & Hartford, 1.523 1.583 1.049 1.108 .474 .475

Averages,

$1.340 $1.399 $0.913 $0.967 $0.427 $0.432

FARES AND FREIGHTS.

Passenger Fares.

The average passenger fare per mile on the Massachusetts railroads for each of the last thirty years, as ascertained from the annual returns to the Board, is given in the following table:

Average Passenger Fare per Mile (All Massachusetts Roads) for 30 Years, 1871 to 1900.

The table shows a gradual reduction of the average fare, with occasional slight fluctuations, from 2.51 cents per mile

in 1871 to 1.75 cents per mile in 1900. This is a reduction of 30 per cent for the period, or an average reduction of one per cent a year.

Average Passenger Fare per Mile (Five Roads) in 1870, 1880, 1890 and 1898-1900.

All five companies, . 2.40 2.01 1.81 1.77 1.77 1.76

The preceding table gives the average passenger fares per mile on the five leading Massachusetts railroads, taken singly and as a group, for the years 1870, 1880 and 1890, and for each of the last three years, 1898 to 1900.

The average fare the last year on the five roads in question, 1.76 cents per mile, is a reduction of 27 per cent from the corresponding fare of 2.40 cents in 1870.

In the next table, the average passenger fares per mile in 1900 on four leading railroads, taken singly and as a group, are compared with the fares on the same roads in 1865; and the percentage of the new fare to the old, and the resulting percentage of reduction in each case, are as follows:

Comparative Passenger Fare per Mile (Four Roads) in 1865 and 1900.