MULTIPLE-UNIT TRAINS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26221, 19 September 1950, Page 3

MULTIPLE-UNIT TRAINS

REFUSAL GF USE ON LYTTELTON LINE

COUNCIL TO PROTEST AGAIN

Another protest to the Minister of Railways (Mr W. S. Goosman) against his refusal to place multiple-unit trains on the Lyttelton line is to be made by the Lyttelton Borough Council.

A letter received by the council last evening from the Minister said that a close examination of the economics of the proposal to use multiple-unit trains had shown that their use could not be justified. There was considerably more involved than the supply of the actual vehicles, Mr Goosman said. More equipment, which would take from 18 months to two years to procure, would be required, and the platforms of all stations would have to be raised. The multiple-unit trains that had been received at Wellington were needed in the Wellington-Paekakariki and Hutt Valley areas, where the volume of traffic was considerably greater than that in any other suburban area in New Zealand.

The Minister added that the Lyttelton service had already been improved, and more improvements would be made.

A letter was received from the Heatl.cote County Council offeifig to support the council in its efforts to obtain improved railway facilities on the Lyttelton line. The Mayor (Mr F. G. Briggs) said that there were five or six units standing idle at Wellington waiting for the completion of a line there in about two years. He considered that the council should continue to fight for the use of multiple-unit trains.