SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22850, 25 October 1939, Page 7

SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

COST BELOW FIRST ESTIMATE

BUILDING of southern

SECTION COMPLETION EXPECTED IN TWELVE MONTHS

* Except for general "cleaning up” • work, the construction of the South Island Main Trunk railway is expected to be finished in 12 months. Making this announcement yesterday, after . an inspection of the work between Wharanui and Parnassus, the termini.

the Minister for Public Works (the ; Hon. R. Semple) sand that,' provided - rails could be supplied, the line would be opened for traffic before the scheduled time in *941. One of the most interesting jobs in- - spected in detail by the Minister was the portal at the southern end of the Amuri Bluff tunnel. When tunnelling was begun at that end the country was

■ found to be unsafe. The original route was under a gully, which was ?' roved to be of “porridgy” material, t was decided to open up the gully -■ and build a portal tunnel—a tunnel out in the open and then back-cov-ered. Although the country was very swampy during the winter, the portal has been built for five chains. Another ", chain and a half of the portal has to

■£ be built before the tunnel will enter ' the ridge. When that point is reached the tunnelling now in the open will be covered with material by bulldozers. The engineers are now satisfied with the stability of the structure. Only 800 feet separates the Taratuhi funnelling with the heading from the Oaro end. The cracks in the northern section of the tunnel have been thoroughly sealed. "The cost of the work on the southern section, from Parnassus to the Kahautara river, is about £IO,OOO less than was estimated, even when the increased cost of materials and the more expensive tunnelling than anticipated are taken into* account.” said Mr

Semple. Of the 600 men employed, 13 had - already left the works for war service, and an additional 30 had enlisted for service.

Progress of Works

Of the 30 miles on the southern section.- the' uncompleted formation was only three miles, said Mr Semple, one mile being of tunnelling. Already 12 miles was completed, with rails laid and the track ballasted, and formation was finished on another 15 miles. When the work began the estimate was that 1,750,000 cubic yards of earthwork would have to be handled, and there remained only 250,000 . Cubic yards to be handled. On i the 30-mile section are 14 tun- . . nels of. a total length of two miles and a quarter. Five are completed ■ and the other nine tunnels are under ■ way, 10 tunnel gangs being at work. The longest tunnel is that through the Amur! Bluff. Of, the. total length of , 45 chains. 28i chains have been lined. Excluding four road bridges, the dumber of bridges on the section is • 15. of which 10 are completed. The total length of all railway bridges is I 3821 feet, and the length yet to be finished is 1636 feet. ■ The station yards at Ferniehurst and HundaleerSre almost finished andeanother two-have yet to be prepared. Need for Stock Trains A request that stock trains should be run from Parnassus to Hundalee, the station at the Conway bridge, on three days a week was made yesterday to the Minister by a deputation of settlers, comprising Messrs J. -Tre- . win, R. Laidlaw, and L. P. Blunt. They said that stock trains would be of service to the whole district. . The railway was being built, the Minister replied, to give service to the district. He explained tfeat the fin- . ished section of the line between Parnassus and Hundalee had not yet been takan over from the Public Works Department by the Railway Department. A promise was made by Mr Semple that he would discuss immediately with the Railway Department the need of running stock trains.