Electrification of main trunk line begun

Press, 20 January 1982, Page 5

Electrification of main trunk line begun

PA Wellington Construction has started on the electrification of the North Island's main trunk railway line. The preliminary engineering for the huge electrification project involves earthworks between Feilding and Marton and the up-grading of a viaduct near National Park.

A Railways Department spokesman said the earthworks involved reducing more than 150 bends on the line between Palmerston North and Hamilton so that trains could travel faster. When Government approval was given last month for the $lBO million electrification project, railway engineers were eager to take advantage of the summer construction season by starting preliminary earthworks. While much of the curve

easement planning had been done separately from the electrification planning, the Railways spokesman said it was included in the over-all cost.

This was because the wider curves would allow the bigger electric trains to travel faster. "The more you can ease the curve, the less you have to reduce speeds." the spokesman said. The project will include the improving of several viaducts on the line to cope with heavier locomotives.

Up-grading has already begun on the Makatote River viaduct near National Park, one of the highest viaducts on the line. This viaduct crosses the State highway between Taumarunui and Ohakune as well as the Makatote River which has its beginnings below the Whakapapa Glacier

on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu. Many tunnels on the line are also to be enlarged. The project is expected to create 200 construction jobs and take six years to complete. Electrification will permit heavier trains, faster travel and a substantial reduction in imported fuel costs. Electric locomotives will haul trains 25 per cent heavier than diesel locomotives can haul and cut transit times by up to 20 per cent. The Railways Department, soon to become a State corporation. is working on detailed plans for a new project division to handle the electrification. The division will be responsible tor the detailed planning, co-ordination, and construction phases of the electrification programme.