End of service ‘a blatant steal’

Press, 29 September 1979, Page 6

End of service ‘a blatant steal’

Parliament reporter Several South Island Labour Party members !yesterday described the end of the' Christchurch-to-ln- ' vercargill late night weekI end rail service as “a blaftant steal from the South Is-' (land.” j In a joint statement the party’s railways spokesman (Mr R. L. Bailey, Here-: taunga) and the members for Christchurch and Dunedin, deplored the ending of a service with a clear passenger potential and the shipping of the train units to the North : Island for runs with fewer passengers. The 11 members of Parliament said the axing of the week-end service was yet ' another example of theii

negative and defeatist think'ing that was strangling the rail system to death. r “The units on this particu- • lar run have been run down to the point of extinction.. Yet in spite of the condi- • lions, the loading average is between 40 to 50 per cent . . . reasonable for long-dis- ( tance passenger haulage. ‘‘There is clear potential, iwith upgraded carriages, and a promotion geared towards I family groups, and those affected by week-end petrol bans, for the loading to be! lifted higher still,” the state-i tnent said. “Yet the Railways' only response in this, as in many other services, is just to re- ; treat. Instead of looking at | why a service does not pay, l I they chop it back.”