Sockburn-Styx Railway

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31977, 2 May 1969, Page 10

Sockburn-Styx Railway

Action on the Sockburn-Styx railway line appears at long last to be in sight The Minister of Railways, Mr Gordon, invested his statement about the building of the line with more than enough caution to disarm in advance complaints about any further delay in the scheme. Nevertheless, this is the first occasion on which the Railways Department has spoken with any sense of immediacy about going ahead with the line; and it is the first announcement of the department’s intention to close the line through Papanui, Fendalton, and Riccarton when the new line is built. That decision will be especially helpful to the Christchurch traffic planners. Although the loop line round the north-western suburbs creates other problems for the road engineers, removing the direct line through Papanui to Addington will get rid of no fewer than a dozen level crossings, three of them—at Riccarton Road, Fendalton and Harewood Road —carrying very high volumes of motor traffic. For as long as the stockyards remain at Addington a spurline will no doubt continue to serve the market, though the railways now carry relatively little stock to and from the yards.

So far new industry has shown very little interest in obtaining land from the Railways Department at either end of the proposed loop line. The short term of the leases has probably been the main reason for this. When the line is built the department may have to revise its policy and be prepared to sell some of the land it owns. Certainly the offer of renewable leases for terms of at least 20 or 25 years will be needed to attract industrialists ready to invest in substantial buildings and plant on railway land. An early start on building spurs from Styx and Sockburn depends upon the establishment of industries in these districts. The eventual building of the loop does not appear to depend upon the immediate response of industry to the presence of the new line. Although the department can reasonably expect new industries to seek sites adjoining the line at Styx and Sockburn, much of the land 4t owns will be sought to house employees for existing industries. The Paparua and Waimairi County Councils have been pressing the department to make a decision on the line or on the use of the adjacent land to clear the way for development. The department has rightly made its decision to proceed on the ground that the time is ripe for the new line. The decision will, nevertheless, be welcomed because it will facilitate planning and development both in the inner suburbs and in the Styx and Sockburn areas.