Progress of the work—1886. sidings have lately been made, into which a goods train can be shunted quickly. A few refuge sidings have also been made between Bathampton and Trowbridge.
Sir Daniel Gooch, when speaking at the general meeting of the Great Western Railway Company, held at Paddington, on February 10th, 1888, said: ‘With regard to the Severn Tunnel, many of you gentlemen have passed through it, and it is going on as well as we can possibly expect. In fact, the traffic has now become so large that it is more than we can handle, particularly the goods and coal traffic, and we are at the present moment making arrangements for putting the block system in the Tunnel itself, so as to divide it into lengths. The distance between the two blocks is now 8 miles; we are dividing that into three intermediate blocks to enable us to get the traffic through it. We keep no separate account of the traffic which passes through the Tunnel, as that would be a troublesome and expensive operation. But I am glad to say that the tendency is to show that the traffic through the Tunnel is increasing very largely indeed. We have no difficulty with the Tunnel; it is working exceedingly well.’
No surer testimony than this, or from a higher authority, could be given of the success of the Severn Tunnel.