THE MAIN TRUNK SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 285, 1 December 1924, Page 4

THE MAIN TRUNK SERVICE.

It was announced on Saturday that the new "limited" express from Auckland will leave at the hour of the present express and be followed by a second train half an hour Inter, and that an attempt will not be made to run the proposed day express service until after the holiday season. The "limited" from Wellington will leave in the evening, and the midday express will be continued. This idea of a "limited" followed at a short interval by an "ordinary" is the practice on the !. ydneyMelbourne run, where, however, there is no desire to travel by dny 90 as to see scenery along the route. Our own Department may find it desirable to make this system permanent. The objection to the proposed day express from Auckland that we noted in our comment last week becomes stronger with consideration. Even a run reduced to sixteen hours would land passengers in Wellington at midnight, after the trams had stopped, when taxi fares were higher than usual, and when the hotels and boarding-houses had "gone to bed." To bo brought to Wellington at such an hour would be particularly hard on women and children. The hour of arrival could be made earlier only by leaving Auckland before the hour now proposed, eight o'clock, but if much alteration was made at this end it would be most inconvenient for passengers living in the suburbs. The advantages of a day trip may be granted, but it

seems to us that they are outweighed by this choice of disadvantages—the train must either leave Auckland too early or arrive in Wellington too late. The Department may decide to revert to the mid-day train from Auckland, or, taking advantage of the shorter running time, set the hour of departure for two or three o'clock, and still land passengers in Wellington before breakfast next morning.