Main Line Slipping Near Taihape

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31724, 6 July 1968, Page 38

Main Line Slipping Near Taihape

(From Our Own Reporter) WANGANUI, July 5. The main trunk line, about six miles south of Taihape, is slowly slipping away.

A slip of several hundred acres just south of Utiku caused a few chains of track to subside yesterday morning and stopped traffic on the line until late yesterday afternoon. The line was lifted and crushed metal laid to keep it level.

The affected area, 100 ft below the main highway overlooking the Rangitiki area, was being watched by a standing patrol, the deputy engineer for the Railways Department in Wanganui (Mr B. M. Christian) said today. The area has been giving trouble for some years. Three years ago a quarter of a mile of track subsided and the highway was diverted to escape the danger. The new highway section has not subsided although a crack has apeared in the pavement This was not causing concern but the situation was being watched, the Ministry of Works district engineer said. The Parapara Road was blocked for two hours after a 1000 cu. yd slip three miles above the Lower Mangawhero Bridge yesterday morning. This was one of more than 40 slips which have dumped between 8000 and 10,000 cu.

yd of spoil on the Parapara area this week. There had been no interruption to railway traffic today by the subsidence near Utiku, said a spokesman from the Railways Department "This area has been giving trouble for many years and we are continually repacking the track,” he said. “In the wet weather experienced recently, this is a daily task.”