S.I. Railways Lost £2m

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 3

S.I. Railways Lost £2m

(Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, July 13.

Though the total operating surplus of New Zealand railways for the year ended March 31 was £426,711, and the revenue a record £36,393,031, the South Island section still lost more than £2 million.

The annual report of the department, tabled in Parliament today, showed that in the South Island expenditure exceeded revenue by £2,096,350. This, however, is an improvement of £119,382 on last year. South Island main and branch lines produced a revenue of £11,038,533, but expenditure totalled £13,134,883. Goods tonnage in the South Island rose by a greater percentage than in the North. South Island goods revenue was up by 8 per cent, and the tonnage carried' increased by 8.9 per cent. In the South, 4,022,318 tons was carried, for a revenue of £10,145,977. RaiLAir Service In spite of the great demand for space on the inter-island road-rail ferry Aramoana, the Railways Department’s railair service between the North

and South Islands made a profit of £49,342 in the last financial year. This is more than £45,000 higher than in the 1963-64 fiscal year. The department, in its annual report, attributes the increase to much more even flow of freight both ways across Cook Strait. The service dealt with 44,109 tons of freight, 5286 more than in the previous year. The amount of freight consigned from the South Island to the North Island in-

creased by 4400 tons, and the amount dispatched to the South Island by 886 tons. Trains On Time Seventy-seven per cent of North Island express and passenger trains and rail-cars were “on time” during the last fiscal year. This was a 1 per cent drop on the previous year's figures. However, there were 110 more “arrivals.” The South Island “on time" percentage rose from 77 to 80,