Rail Link For Nelson Now “Urgent” Project

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28870, 15 April 1959, Page 12

Rail Link For Nelson Now “Urgent” Project

(Aew zeaiana Press Association) . NELSON, April 14. The Minister of Railways (Mr Moohan) has instructed the Railway Department’s chief engineer to give urgency to the selection of a route to link Nelson- with the South Island railway system at Blenheim. Mr S. A. Whitehead, member of Parliament for Nelson, was told this today by Mr Modhan when the Minister passed through Nelson on his way to the West Coast by air with the General Manager for Railways (Mr A. T. Gandell). Mr Moohan said that the chief engineer had been asked to advise him immediately a decision had been made. This was expected to take several weeks.

After the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) visited Nelson last week to inspect proposed railway routes between here and Bien*heim, Mr Whitehead said that he intended to go to Wellington to see the Minister of Railways in an effort to expedite a decision. Instead, Mr Whitehead was able to arrange a meeting at Tahunanui airport today. Mr Watt told the Nelson Provincial Progress League that the Ministry of Works had completed the survey and handed all available information to the Railways Department, which would make the final decision. Of the three main routes surveyed, Mr Watt said he preferred the most northerly one which followed the Nelson-Blenheim highway to Hira, then through to the Ronga Valley, Rai, Pelorus and Havelock to Blenheim.