TAWA FLAT TUNNEL

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 12

TAWA FLAT TUNNEL

EEADY IN OCTOBER

FURTHER PLANS UNCERTAIN

It is anticipated by the Public Works Department that the widening and concroting of tho . longer Tawa Flat tunnel will be finished on October 12. Twenty chains of the preliminary heading remain to be widened, and 20 chains of concrete moulding arc still to be done. This will leave the job ready for the rails. Inquiries of the Railway Department today elicited the fact that a decision has not yet been reached r«vgarding the date when the laying ot the track will be commenced, in view of the uncertainty regarding the extent of'the funds that will be available to the Railway Department in five months time. In the ordinary course of events the Public Works Department would havo gone straight on with the track-laying, but* as no date could bo given for the, commencement of this work, it will be done by' the Railway Department, to which it-will bo handed over ready for plate laying. Under normal cmditions the completion of the tunnel could havo been considerably expe [ dited. Only 213 men arc at pie'scni i employed on it. -. The ramp from Kaiwarra to the en-, trance of the tunnels, formed of spoil taken from them, is finished, as is. \\\t sea wall placed at its outer,foot to stand the waves raised -by 'southerly gales. In view of' the paucity of sound stono in big enough blocks, concrete blocks have been used; with a covering of large stone blocks. '■ The formation north of the tunnel is also complete, including embankments and . creek diversions, so . that uncertainty as to finance would appear to be the only obstacle to plans for putting this expensive piece of work to some practical use. Although tho full benefits of tho Tawa Flat Deviation wero stated to be dependent on the remoddlling of the railway yard and the substitution of a modern railway station for tho present Lambton andThdrndon buildings, it is evident that a saving would be made in working costs by reason of the 1 in 110 grade of the tunnel, compared with tiic climb tp Jbhnsonville, even though the heavy expenditure necessary to complete the scheme may bo now unavoidable. This saving was estimated by the Minister of Railways in 1924 yHon. J. G. Coa'tes) at £40,000 a year, a sum which has even more significance now.