Help for Commuters

A railroad and a city tried new approaches to the commuter problem (TIME cover, Jan. 18) last week:

P: The New Haven Railroad's President George Alpert, lawyer turned railroadman, at long last decided that one way to cut soaring delays and equipment breakdowns might be to give New Haven veterans a hand at the throttle. Alpert appointed a 24-year employee, Frederick J. Orner, 48, as chief of the road's operations and second in command. Orner, the road's general manager of freight service, had been demoted from assistant vice president in 1956; now he will take over the jobs of two Alpert lieutenants brought in from another road in 1958. Said Orner: "It is fairly obvious that the first thing to do is to improve employee and passenger morale. We've got to get people to like the New Haven again and to patronize the railroad. We must all pull in one harness at one time. We haven't had that lately on the New Haven."

P: The city of Philadelphia tried to solve its problem in a different way. In effect, it took over operation of the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads' commuter lines in the city by setting up a nonprofit corporation to run the lines. The city will control the corporation with eleven directors, give two directors to the railroads, two more to 23 labor unions whose members work on the roads. The corporation will set all schedules, collect all revenues, pay the roads for the use of their facilities at a guaranteed rate of $1,400,000 for the first year. It will get a $500,000 subsidy from the city this year, more in succeeding years, during which it plans to spend $5,000,000 for better stations, and new coaches that it will lease to the roads.

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