RAILWAY PROGRESS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 84, 7 January 1928, Page 9

RAILWAY PROGRESS

BETTER COMMUNICATION WITH AUCKLAND _ LINE FROM BAY OF PLENTY Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 6. • Within two months it. is expected trains will be running on the new section ..of the railway line from Waihi to Taiieatua through the . Bay. of Plenty. This will add another 85 miles of permanent wav to ■ the Auckland railway district, and passengers’will be able to travel direct from Auckland to laueatua bv train. Another section of line which it is expected will be completed and opened toward the end of March will be that from Waiotira to Kirikopum, the first part of the line connecting Auckland with Dargaville direct.' Work has progressed favourably on various sections of line through the .Bay of Plenty, and the engineers, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth, and Co., Ltd., are now ready to hand over to the Public Works Department that, section of line from Tahawai to Te Puna. This is the last stretch of line through the Bav, 15 miles in length, and completes the whole of the line from Waihi to Taiieatua, including the piece .recently taken over between Waihi and Tahawai. The. section of line between laneatua and Tauranga is. at present being run by the Public Works Department. With the completion of the line through the Bav of Plenty, and its being taken over by the Railway Department, comes the question of a nearer route from the Bav to Auckland; Ihe necessary link will run from Paeroa to Poli eno on the main line south of Pukekohe across D iako Swamp, This will reduce the rail distance from the Bav of Plenty to Auckland by between 40 and 50 miles, and will a long journey down to Frankton Junction ana back.