COST OF RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 261, 31 July 1929, Page 10

COST OF RAILWAYS

TOTAL OVER £60,000,000 RECORD INCREASE IN OPEN LINES The capital cost of the Dominion’s railways as at March 31 totalled £62,276,214, this amount being made up as follows: Cost of opened lines. £56,568,598; cost of unopened lines, £5,707,616. The increase dilring the financial year ended March 31 was £3,478,756, of which £2,821,060 was on lines in the North Island and £680,897 on lines In the South Island, miscellaneous items being lower in the latest return by £24,101. The most outstanding feature of the return is that the capital cost of opened lines increased during the year by £5,381,222, which is the greatest addition ever made in one year to the Railway Department’s capital account. Only on two occasions—in 1908-9 and 1925-26—has the increase in one year exceeded £3,000,000. The largest was £3,396,945 in 1908-9, when the completed North Island Main Trunk line was taken over by the Railway Department. A considerable part of last year's Increase was accounted for by the transfer of the East Coast Main Trunk (Bay of Plenty) line of 98 miles to the department. The cost of construction of the railways and of rolling stock, etc., to March 31, 1929, is shown in the following summary of the return published in the Gazette:— Opened Unopened Lines. Lines. £ £

There are now 3287 miles of opened lines of railway in the Dominion, an increase for the year of 107 miles. The North Island has 1497 miles of open lines, an increase of 98 miles (WaihiTaneatua), and the South Island 1790 miles, an increase of 9 miles. In the Railways Statement, 1928, the following particulars of capital costs are given:— 1028. 1027. £ £ Capital coat of opened and unopened lines . 58,707,458 58,028,477 Capital cost of open lines 51,187,376 49,183,016 Cost per mile .of open lines 16,097 15,545 According to the gazetted figures, therefore, the capital cost of open lines at March 31, 1929, had increased to £17,209 per mile compared with £16,097 at the corresponding date of 1928.

North Island — Kalhu ......... Gisborne 192,175 884,892 733,801 North Island Main lines and branches 81,112,315 4,482,076 £32,169,382 £5,215,877 South Island — Main Lines and branches .... 22,342,140 72,164 248,640 Westport 706,352 Nelson 585,569 101,546 Picton 691,228 17,514 £24,325,289 £439,864 Lake Wakatipu steamer service ... 44,387 Miscellaneous . 29,540 51,875 Grand total £56,568,598 £ 5,707,616