TUNNEL DUPLICATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 59, 8 March 1912, Page 7

TUNNEL DUPLICATION.

DISTAKCE. £SOOOO AUTHORISED. UfCITJMKG BEMOVAX OP THE ETJGIWE SHEDS. DCPLICAnO-V OF OTAHUHU-WEST-FIELD SECTION. TOTAL OF £2o<i,ooo FOR IMPROVEMENTS AT AUCEXA2VD. lie Honouriaie J. A. Millar, Minister of Sfilwaya. who arrived in Auckland this aToming to attend to some import•nt business in comuastion with iocai jjilway matters, gave a pressman this Biorning information which will be ei(gedjngfy interesting to AnckJandeM. "The main object of my visit to Auckland* remarked Mr. Miliar, "is to p>mJew arrangements in connection wi:h fje sreuniiuaJT work of putting in bj.no removal of the engme-sheds from Auckland to Newmarket, which wiil also neceffiitate the duplication of the Parnell nauieL Recently Messrs. A. M. Myers sad A E- Glover, your Auckland members, made strong representations to me jtsnsting the whole position, and after ( j J6caa6 jng the matter exhaustiTeiy with than, I consulted th« chW engineer, jji tile respJt wts that 1 promised to ame to Auckland and put the prelimirUj rork in hand. The congestion of taSe in the Auckland goods yards, and (OUSBJuent rearrangement of the yards, jure mads it now necc-sary to shift the engine-sheds, and as the Department posenes a splendid site at Nejvmarket, tirjogh requiring some filling in, it has beta derided to erect them out there, Tins, of coarse, means that the engines w3l live to run backwards and forwards tetween Newmarket and Auckland, and that again means the necessity of a doable line right through, or in other worris,the duplication of the Parnell tunnel. The work, of course, will take some time to put in hand, but plans for the hw sheds have already been approved, tail sum of £SQ-000 has been authorised tor the combined work of tuanel and tiled*. I can say, in short, that evervtimg rill be done to facilitate a reasonisie despatch, though, it is quite impossible )W me to say more at present than that the duplication of the tunnel ] is within measurable distance. The re- j moral of the "l'gine shed to New-mark t will mean a considerable saving in the fondling of coal, for there will be no lifting of the coal to the tenders, as at present, but it will all be done by gravitation.*

The iriaister went on to say that this SOfIOO would come from the £200,000 tuthorised for improvements in and irwnd Auckland, out of which also tomes the £BOOO being spent in a new bick goods shed at the present time, kesdes £3500 authorised: to complete the duplication of the line between Wesrfield This last piece of work is te as pot fn hand very shortly. The reminder erf tb? £200,000 will be largely Gammed in provTdinj; new goods yard j uwnmoda.ticm on the file now being i iy ti>* MMrJaouT Bomrtt tmr tim (Jjajjoned a.-i to the likelrhood of a lWTSibay station at Auckland in the aarfauTC Mr Millar said that we need tot Salt about it at all for the present. Tkmpsst need of Aucklud was goods 2CS9BBJB&tion. and the provision of

titajtogrtiler with the dapßcaticm of tie tmmtl would swallow all avaDaWe Boieyitor some time to come. "£0 long »s job have sufficient platform space for Jirar trains you must he satisfied, and raaißßber that yon air a good deal better off in station accommodation that WM other places. Look at Wellbfbff, for instance," he said.