RAILWAY INQUIRY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 269, 12 November 1943, Page 2

RAILWAY INQUIRY

THE safety record of railway travel in New Zealand, which has been A very high, has been marred this year by more than one serious accident. It may be said that the service has; in the colloquial phrase, merely "struck a bad patch," but where human lives are involved it is essential that an explanation much more precise should be sought, and found. The derailment this week on the Upper Hutt-Wellington line is said to have occurred within a very short distance of the spot where another train was derailed, in similar circumstances, though fortunately with no fatal consequences, less than three months ago. It is hard to believe that this was a coincidence. The Minister of Railways has announced the appointment of a board of inquiry which can be depended upon to find out what happened, and why; but it is doubtful whether the board's order of reference is wide enough. Like most other industries, and in a greater degree than many, the railways are working under strain, caused by exceptionally heavy traffic and the fact that so many railwaymen are in the armed Services. This strain must have its effects alike on men, rolling stock and permanent way. The question, which it does not seem that the board of inquiry is empowered to answer, is whether this effect is such that previous safety standards are inevitably lowered. If so, it might be necessary to relieve'the strain by running fewer trains or reducing speeds. This would be inconvenient, but convenience cannot be pleaded against safety. It is to be Jhoped that the board, when it reports on an accident which may have had purely local causes, will make some comment on the wider subject of the efficiency and safety of the railways after four years of war.