GAP OF 76 MILES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 228, 23 June 1936, Page 10

GAP OF 76 MILES

Unfinished South Island Main Trunk

WHARANUI TO PARNASSUS

Construction work on the South island Main Trunk railway line was suspended in October, 1931, following * report presented to Parliament the previous month by the Government Railways Board. Railway services are operating between Picton and Wharanui, a distance of 56 miles, and between Christchurch and Parnassus, a distance of 85 miles. The total dislance between Picton and Christchurch is 217 miles, and the section of 76 miles between Wharanui and Parnassus was under construction when work was stopped. The route of the unfinished section is .via, the Clarence River, Kaikoura and the Conway River. According to the report of the board the estimated capital cost of construction of the line between Wharanui and Parnassus .is £2,757,000. The total expenditure to July 31, 1931, was £514,739. At the time construction was suspended work was proceeding on a strip of 28 miles at the north end of the gap, and on one of 15 miles at the southern end. Six miles had been surveyed but not commenced, and there had been trial surveys of the remaining 27 miles, but the route had not been finally located. The Public Works Statement for 1932 stated that work on the north end of lire line between Wharanui and Parnassus was being.pushed on vigorously, and that very good.progress was being made when instructions were received in 1931 to close down construction. At the southern end formation

was progressing satisfactorily on the Conway section. Construction work on the WestportInangahua railway ceased on October 21, 1931, in accordance with the recommendation of the Government Railways Board. The total distance from Westport io liiangahua is 26 miles, but the line has already been built from Westport. Io Cascade, a distance of about nine miles, '(’he tola! estimated of Hie line is £977,009, and' lire expenditure to June 30, 1931. was .staled by the board in its report lo be £527,000.