GIRDERS OVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 192, 14 August 1940, Page 8

GIRDERS OVER.

TITIRANGI CROSSING. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT. Before Aucklanders had breakfast this morning, heavy steel girders to eliminate the dangerous Titirangi Road level crossing beyond New Lynn were being lifted into position by the Railway Department's big cranes, and before midday the majority of the six girders to span the highway were resting snugly ori the top of stout concrete supports. Although the old railway line is still in use, and the level crossing will not be closed immediately, the work carried out to-day brings nearer the time when traffic will be able to use this route in complete safety, and the warning wig-wag signal will be heard no more. Eighteen feet above the level of the road which gives access to the Titirangi end of the Waitakere Ranges, and also to numerous popular bays and resorts on the Manukau Harbour, the new railway bridge consists of a main span of 50ft in the centre, made up of two double girders, each over 40 tons in weight, while smaller girders, 20ft long, at either end, complete the structure. The girders are bolted to the concrete sup- j porting pillars. ! '"Nice work," remarked an old hand as he stood, pipe in mouth, and watched ; the progress of operations. '"We'd have ; needed a lot more gear in my day, and -it would have taken us a good deal longer." He cast admiring glances at the cranes as they moved their heavy loads, and reflected that bridge building was easier by modern methods. Speeding Up the Trains. The Titirangi Road crossing will be the first of six to vanish as a part of the railway improvement scheme between Auckland and Waitakere. A deep filling to reduce the grade, and so speed up the train services, has teen formed towards both New Lynn aiid Glen Eden, and the final operation of laying the new line should not be long delayed. Further out, in the vicinity of the Croydon Road station, a half-mile cutting is spanned by a temporary bridge to carry the existing railway, but later the line will run through the cutting, while a bridge will be built for the use of traffic to the West Coast, thus eliminating another crossing. Just beyond Henderson a steel and concrete bridge is being constructed to replace the present wooden railway bridge, and two more steel and concrete bridges will be required near Sunnyvale, one to span a stream and the other to abolish a level crossing. The Sfurges Road level crossing, near Ranui, beyond Henderson, is another danger point which will go. The fifth and sixth level crossings to be closed are those near Mount Albert and Swanson. Easy Grades and Curves. _ The length of line under reconstruction extends for a distance of about 12 miles from Mount Albert to the Waitakere tunnel. So great are the changes that the new line and the old rarely touch for the whole of this length. Grades, which have been a serious obstacle to railway efficiency in the past, are being reduced to one in 80; that is, practically halved in a number of instance;-, and curves have' been eased for comfort and speed. The result wili be faster travel and a considerable saving to the railways. Most extensive of the works being carried out is that around Swansou and at the approach to the tunnel. A long filling has been formed through which the Waitakere Scenic Drive penetrate* by a subway. At its height the filling in the gully through which the Swanson stream flows rises to 74 feet above tha bottom of the valley, while at another point towards Swanson a cutting has a depth of 62 feet. The smoothing out of the level as between the new line and the old is very apparent to travellers bv train when they pass through. At some points the fillings for the new line tower above. __ Throughout its entire distance the new formation will have a sufficient width to enable the line to be duplicated when this becomes necessary.