Reservations on railcar

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33775, 22 February 1975, Page 14

Reservations on railcar

Sir, — Recently a club I belong to attempted to ob-

.tain 90 tickets on the railcar, |to Arthur’s Pass, returning two days later. However, we 'were informed that we could i only reserve 60 seats as ! only one unit would be • operating on the particular I evenings concerned. Surely lit would be normal business procedure to add an additional unit, which accommodates about 70 people, to the railcar for the two evenings concerned, even if the additional unit is disconnected and put on a siding at Arthur’s Pass or Otira for the two intervening days. This would then leave the department with 90 guaranteed fares and 50 to be made up as against the 70 to be made up as is normally the case. Perhaps somebody could explain why the Railways Department turn away such business which is there for the taking, and with six weeks to plan for it? — Yours etc., L. N. RIDDICK. February 17, 1975. [Mr A. D. Campbell, district traffic manager. New . Zealand Railways, replies: “The simple answer is that the department does not have the number of railtars to permit the adding of extra units to services. These , railcars accommodate 88 passengers and it would be unfair to allow a large party, possiblv travelling at reduced fares and for only a portion of the distance, to totally exclude all passengers desiring to make the through journey to or from the West Coast.”]