S.I. To Have Diesel Units After North

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30829, 14 August 1965, Page 3

S.I. To Have Diesel Units After North

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, August 13. The change-over to diesel units on the South Island railways would begin when the North Island programme was completed in a y ear or two, the Minister of Railways (Mr McAlpine) told Parliament today.

Speaking during discussion on the working railways vote, Mr McAlpine said it would be uneconomic to change to diesel in both islands at the same time.

Mr A. D. Dick (Govt., Waitaki) asked for more comfortable seating in rail-cars and Road Services buses. Mr McAlpine said buses with modern seating would be used when worn-out buses were replaced. Answering Opposition criticism of excessive fares for the Aramoana, Mr McAlpine said people travelled by ferrj’ because it was more convenient, quicker and cheaper. The charges were not excessive, as the extensive number of Aramoana passengers proved. Sir Leslie Munro (Govt., Waipa) said dining cars should be reintroduced. "Let's have more in the way of amenities. . . . Let us try to rival the railway systems that are the best in the world.”

Mr McAlpine said dining cars, discussed every year, were an expensive luxury. The cars on the Sydney-Melbourne trains cost £BO,OOO annually. Mr McAlpine said dining cars were used in New Zealand when trains travelled at

I half the speed and carried few passengers. Mr N. V. Douglas (Opp., Auckland Central) asked if the capital cost of the proposed Auckland tube line would be a charge on Auckland ratepayers or the New Zealand Railways. “Has the Railways Department any plans or proposals to meet the whole or part of the cost of this proposal?" Mr McAlpine said the General Manager of Railways had been instructed to co-operate with the Auckland Regional Authority in the best interests of Auckland and New Zealand.