Closing Branch Railways

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31864, 17 December 1968, Page 20

Closing Branch Railways

The legality of the closing of branch railway lines has been put beyond doubt by the judgment of the Chief Justice in the Supreme Court at Timaru yesterday. The decision of the Minister of Railways to close the 35-mile branch line from Washdyke to Fairlie was challenged in the Court by three MacKenzie Country farmers and a farming company, who sought an injunction against the Minister. Sir Richard Wild says that the plaintiffs failed to show that the Minister had acted unlawfully. “ The Court “ cannot sit as an appeal authority from the Minister’s “ decision ”, his Honour said.

The case was important for the Railways Department, for until it was disposed of the Minister and his departmental officials could not be certain that they had acted lawfully in closing other lines; nor could they act without the risk of further court action if they sought to close other branch lines. Had the judgment gone against the Crown, the Railways Act would have had to be altered and earlier closings validated. The Court’s unequivocal judgment allows the department to proceed with its plans to rationalise and modernise the whole railway system, confident that it is acting in accordance with the law as well as in the interests of national efficiency.