S.L Railway Has £1.8m Loss

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31123, 28 July 1966, Page 18

S.L Railway Has £1.8m Loss

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, July 27. The South Island main railway line and branches ran last year at an operating loss of £1,789,329, compared with a profit on the North Island lines of £2,552,023.

This information is contained in the report of the Railways Department for the year ended March 31 last. The total revenue on South Island lines was £11,153,783, but the expenditure was £12,943,477. By comparison. North Island railway lines collected £26,222,699, and expenditure totalled £23,670,676.

The ratio of expenditure to revenue was 90.3 per cent in the North Island and 116 per cent in the South.

The report comments that the North Island’s operating surplus showed another increase, being £28,962 higher than in the previous year. Of the South Island it says: “It is

pleasing to note the marked improvement in the South Island results, where the net loss was £306,656 less than last year. Revenue increased by £115,250 and expenditure decreased by £191,406. Th_re were a number of factors contributing to this result, the main ones being an increase of long-haul business and the handing over of the employment of waterside labour.

The Waimate (Canterbury) and Seaward Bush (Southland) lines have been closed since the period covered by the report.