RAIL WAGGONS BY AIR

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27859, 6 January 1956, Page 6

RAIL WAGGONS BY AIR

TRANSFER TO NORTH ISLAND

SURPLUS VEHICLES FROM SOUTHERN LINES

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. January 5. Railway waggons are being flown from the South Island to the North Island. The waggons, surplus in the South Island, are required in the North Island to meet demands for low-sided waggons to carry cars and agricultural machinery. Air transport had been chosen because of the cost of sea carriage, said* the Minister of Railways (Mr J. K. McAlpine) in a statement issued today. He was replying to criticism of the air freighting of the waggons. Mr McAlpine said that the sea freight had been quoted at £5O 16s for each waggon from Lyttelton to Wellington. and a little more than £4B each from Picton. No cargo vessels suitable for shipping the waggons were available from Picton before Christmas, and it was doubtful whether the transfer of the rolling stock could have been made any more quickly by sea.

On the other hand, the Bristol Freighters employed in the Railways Departments inter-island air freight service often had to fly empty from Woodbourne to Paraparaumu because of the preponderance of traffic from the north to the south, said the Minister.

To make the best use of the aircraft, which would otherwise be empty, it was decided to transfer the waggons by air, and during the last three weeks, the vehicles had been gathered and examined at Blenheim. Fourteen waggons had been flown across Cook Strait, and the others would be transferred in time to meet the resumption of rail freight traffic in mid-January. said Mr McAlpine. “This is probably the first time anywhere in the world that railway rolling stock has been conveyed by air, and by using the waggons as backloading, the department is avoiding uneconomic flying ef empty aircraft,” he said.