RAILWAY TRAFFIC DISORGANISED

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22795, 22 August 1939, Page 8

RAILWAY TRAFFIC DISORGANISED

North Island Main Trunk Blocked

WASHOUT NEAR TE KUITI (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAW ij, August 21. Rearrangements of the schedules of two expresses for Wellington were made at Auckland to-day because of an extensive washout on the Main Trunk line south of Te Kuiti. The 3 p.m. train did hot leave until 9 p.m., and the Limited express, which usually departs at 7.15 p.m., was held until 10 p.m. Because of the delays and the uncertainty as to when the washout would be cleared, many passengers cancelled their seats. Originally it was -hoped that the damage would be repaired at an early hour this morning, and trains were delayed in order that their arrival at the scene would synchronise with the repair of the washout, thus saving. passengers a long wait at the scene. {Subsequently it was found that the reopening of the line would take longer than had been anticipated. It was then announced that trains would proceed ■ to Te Kuiti only, and that , a decision on the transferring of passengers and mail across the affected section of the line would be made at daylight tomorrow morning. A similar arrangement was made for the two Wellington-Auckland expresses, which were to be held at Taumarunui until daybreak. , When the position became known in Auckland, early this afternoon it, was decided to solve the difficulty partly by dispatching a relief train to convey passengers to points between Auckland and Te Kuiti. A fairly large number of persons travelled on the relief train, but on account of cancellations there were comparatively few on the later expresses. ‘ The first train had between 60 and 70 persons on board. There were about 130 on the Limited express, nearly half of whom were in sleeping compartments. Included among the passengers on both expresses were some travellers who arrived at Auckland by the Monterey, and members of Parliament, including the Speaker (the Hon. W. E. Barnard). ' 1 The washout occurred five miles south of Te Kuiti.

The earth fell away comparatively' suddenly soon after a north-bound- mixed train had passed. A blocked culvert is- the cause of the washout. With the exceptionally heavy rains the water backed up deeply in a pocket behind a filling, saturated it, and then pushed the filling away for a length of two chains. More than 50 men were engaged this eveningpiling up sleepers to take the weight of the lines now sagging into space and replacing the culvert. . ; ■