DELAY CAUSED BY ELECTRIC INSTALLATION.

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 88, 13 April 1923, Page 7

DELAY CAUSED BY ELECTRIC INSTALLATION.

Although the date <on which the Otira tunnel will be actually opened for through traffic between Canterbury and the West Coa6t is still uncertain, the wprk remaining to be done is being pushed forward with the greatest expedition, states a special correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times." It will be June at the earliest before any-passenger trains are run throuch the tunnel. ..In regard to goods traffic, it seems quite possible that a certain amount might be handled towards the end of the present month, or early in May.

The delay in the completion of the line has been caused principally by the slowness of the electrical work which is of such a nature that it cannot be rushed. Gangs of men were encased in installing the feeder wires between the tunnel mouth and Otira station; .but up to the present, a start has not been made with the fixing, of- the trolly wires at either Arthur's Pass or Otira. The trials of the, locomotives cannot be undertaken until the wirinc is completed, and that will probably be about three weeks or a month. After that, a month will probably elapse before any regular traffic will be taken through the tunnel.

While the wqr-k is well forward at Otira-, it is considerably behind at Arthur's Pass, and some doubt is being expressed as to whether Arthur's Pass will be ready in time to take trains during June. The opinion is freely §xpresaed that th,ere is a likelihood of electrio looomotiv-es takinr; the trains from Otira to the end of the tunnel only at Arthur's Pass at firat, and that steam Iqoomotives wpl handle the trains oV-er tl?e j-eraainder of the electrified section at Arthur'^ Pass. That ppinion is based on the great amount of work that remains to be done at Arthur's Pass, which, it i« considered, cannot be completed by June. The main trolly wires in the tunnel are connected to the electrical supoly and are beinor.-used by the small Jeffrey motors on 2ft 6in gauge. These hard tracks on the 3ft 6in gaiige. The temporary trolly wires have been dismantle^ and are being pleare.d away, and the Jeffrey motors now run through the tunnel only, and do not come half way to Otiva station, as formerly. It is stilted that much of the delay at Arthur's! Pass has been due to trouble with the levels, and that the rails have bgen raised and lowered at several places after liaving been laid down.