MIDLAND LINE BLOCKED

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24741, 5 December 1945, Page 8

MIDLAND LINE BLOCKED

♦ Traffic Disrupted By Slips

BUSES USE LEWIS PASS

ROUTE

From Our Own Reporter GREYMOUTH, December 4. The Midland railway line between Jackson’s and Otira, and also the West Coast-Canterbury highway, via the Otira Gorge route, were blocked by at least three slips, about 8 o’clock this morning, and traffic has been totally disrupted on this route. There are no indications when the route is likely to restored to traffic because of the continued heavy rain, which has brought down huge rocks and debris from the hillside to cover both the road and rail routes. Water continued to surge across the parallel routes of -the road and rail throughout to-day. and relief gangs of workmen were unable to tackle the big (ask of restoration work in re=; pairing vyash-onts and removing slips from rail and road surfaces. There are throe definite blockages, at Bluff Light, Nelly’s creek, and Rocky creek.

The Railway Department has secured two of the largest types of bulldozers, one from Reefton, and one from Arthur’s Pass, which are on the spot alteady, and will cope with the removal of the debris.

Because of the continued downpour of torrential rain up to a late hour to-night, engineers were unable to secure a clear picture of actual damage because of the washout and the extent of the piling up of debris by slips. It has been ascertained, however, that the damage is most extensive, debris.being piled up to a depth of more than 20 feet on the roadway and more than five feet on the railway line.

The first serious slip on the Otira side is at Bluff Light, where a washout also occurred through the failure of a culvert to handle the huge volume of water. Then further towards Greymouth, and extending over an intermittent distance of five miles towards Jackson’s, are two more major slips at Rocky creek and Nelly’s creek, as well as several minor ones, with the most serious trouble indicated, so far as can be ascertained, at Rocky creek. At Nelly’s creSk the slip was. cleared several times to-day,, but further dovvnpours_ again covered the railroad. is stated that to deal with the problems by ordinary manpower at Rocky creek alone would take several days, and until the ■ weather 1 clears there is no prospect of a clearance. Should the rain cease there is a remote possibility of the clearance of the line bjr to-morrow night, but in the meantime all train schedules have been cancelled, and consignments of about 5000 tons of coal and timber are held up on the West Coast side of the alps alone. No alternative passenger service is yet scheduled to operate tomorrow. Express Cancelled The Railways Department at Greymouth this morning quickly reached a decision to cancel the express train to Christchurch, which was dissembled on arrival at Greymouth from Hokitika soon after 10. o'clock. A similar .decision was reached at the Christchurch end, and all trains on the route were immediately cancelled until further notice, including the regular railcar services last night to Christchurch and return to-morrow morning. As an alternative outlet, intending passengers on this morning’s express for Christchurch were given an opportunity to travel by buses, five of. which made the trip, leaving Greymouth shortly after midday for Christchurch, via Reefton and. the Lewis Pass route, which was in condition. Five large special buses, in addition to the regular service bus from Reefton. made the trip and about 140 of 160 express passengers availed themselves of the sg:vice, for which an extra charge was made. Buses from the Christchurch side conveyed a total of 170 passengers to the West Coast, leaving there about 11 a'.m.

The perishable goods train and the rail-car from Christchurch arrived on time at Greymouth this morning. They met with no trouble en route, though speed restrictions had to, be observed over portions of the line affected nearer Greymouth by the slip and washouts on Saturday. The rainfall was reported to be phenomenal in the Otira district today. The rainfall at Greymouth for the 24 hours ending at 9 o’clock this morning was only 78 points, but the fall must have been exceedingly heavy inland overnight. . While there is a four or five knot current-in th Grey river, inland rains have not yet made their presence felt in the flow of-the stream. . -