Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1937. A GREAT RAILWAY WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1937, Page 12

Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1937.

A GREAT RAILWAY WORK

•The opening of the new Wellington railway station tomorrow will mark the penultimate stage in one of the greatest transport improvement schemes undertaken in _New Zealand. •The full benefits of the scheme will be; available a little later when the electric locomotives are received, and transport from Wellington to Paekakariki on the Main Trunk route and to Johnsonville^on the suburban section is operated on the clean and speedy electric system.. In the meantime the city and all who trade with or through the city will gain by the piercing of the mountain barrier dividing Wellington from the hinterland, by the provision of convenient and ample terminal facilities, by tlie assembly of railway administrative departments under one roof, and by the addition of a valuable area to the business land of the city. Officially tomorrow's event is just the opening of the new railway station which replaces the old and inadequate buildings that had far outlived their useful term. But the station, important as it is, is only one item in a scheme which has been in progress for 14 years. Wellington has had to wait a long time for the new station, but the delay has been in part due to the vastness of the improvement plan of which it is a part. An idea of the scope of this scheme may be obtained from the articles published "in "The Post" today to commemorate the event. It was admitted thirty years ago that the railway terminal facilities in Wellington J were quite out of keeping with the importance of a city served on the seaward side by a splendid and Well-equipped harbour and destined by this and its central position to deal with an ever-increasing volume of trade. But there were war and other delays to the provision of more adequate accommodation. In the meantime business expanded, and the authorities, with a vision for which credit can now be given,-per-ceived that a new station would solve only part of their problem. They therefore adopted a greater scheme to, make a short-cut through the mountain barrier and to reclaim land that would provide space for well-planned railway yards.. The construction began in 1923 with the erection of the retaining wall for a new reclamation. Part by part the plan has been worked upon since. Now Wellington citizens are able to appreciate the magnitude of the achievement.

The whole scheme on its com--pletion will have cost some £3,000,000. It has included , the construction of a long concrete wall and the reclamation within the wall of 69 acres of land at a cost of about a quarter of a million pounds; the construction of a new double-track railway to join the Main Trunk line at Tawa Flat, including two tunnels of 63 chains and 2 miles 53 chains, taking two and a quarter miles off the distance and 323 feet off the climb on the railway entrance to Wellington; the provision of extensive train marshalling, goods yards and sheds, and finally the erection of a railway station and railway administrative offices which, for the first time for many years, will permit the. various staffs to be brought together. Linked with this big plan are other achievements: the extension of the port berthage space along the reclamation breastwork, the means of access to deep water anchorage for the floating dock, the provision, when a ramp has been built, of a new road exit from the city, the electrification of two lines of railway, one providing a quicker service to the northern hill suburbs, and the other both removing a hurdle from the all-important Main Trunk route and adding an extensive area of valleys, hills, and sea beaches for potential suburban residential development and recreational use. Seen as a whole, as one might view it from a lofty height with a vision of the development that will follow, the scheme is probably the greatest yet undertaken for the advancement of New Zealand's capital and premier port. It is a monument to the genius and foresight of the planners and engineers. The nation, the city, and the harbour authority have worked together to make this vast development possible. The constructional stage is now nearly complete, and the work is to be passed on to those who will be responsible for its use. Tlie work is, indeed,

not ended. A road, a railway, a station or. a harbour is only an instrument for progress. In the planning and building of the instrument splendid work has been done. Now equal enterprise and vision are called for so that the fullest use may be made of the improved.facilities. The co-operation which has been in evidence in construction must be continued in the direction and control of transport, in the establishment and expansion of industries, in the development of commerce. With vision and enterprise a new era of progress may be begun wherein the growth of a great capital city will mean tlie advancement of industry and commerce, and the welfare not only of all who work and live within the city but of all New Zealand.