A TRAIN FERRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 6

A TRAIN FERRY.

Ihe Railways Commission looks forward to the time whc" die gap in the South Island Main Trunk system between Christehurch and Pit ton will be bridged. and a train ferry will run between Pie.ton or thereabouts and Wellington. The Commission, however, puts no date to this development, and most people, we think, will regard it as something for the indefinitely distant future. The train- ferry method of transport, has been a success between Kngland and the Continent and elsewhere. Instituted between our two islands it would reduce the se.-i journey to something very short, do away with breaking of hulk in mails and goods, and link up the railway systems of tiie two islands by a Government-owned service. On the other hand, the present ferry service between Lyttelton .and Wellington is admirably conducted, and will serve the needs of the community well for many years. We arc no out-and-out admirers of the Union Coaipajiy. but we must pay it the tribute of saying that it has provided a ferry service between the islands that when the two fast modern ships are running has no superior in the world, and few equals. To establish a train ferry -would mean completing the Main Trunk line, which we should say was fairly far down the list of public works in order of importance, and ihen sinking a large sum in ships of a special typp. all for gains that would not be proportionate to the cost. Moreover, if passengers, mails and ?oods from the South Island to the North, and from the North to the South. are to pass over thi-t new route, will there be the need for the duplicated C'hristchureh-Lytteltcm tunnel and other works near Cliristchurch, the .justification for which is declared to be the fact that so much of the South Island's traffic pa s ses through Lyttelton?