DEFECT DEVELOPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 10

DEFECT DEVELOPS

JOHNSONVILLE LINE

TRAFFIC DELAYED AN HOUR

Passengers on the Wellington-John-sonville electrified railway were delayed a little over an hour yesterday afternoon owing to a mechanical defect on one of the motor coaches. It was unfortunate for all concerned that this occurred at a peak hour of suburban travel, particularly as the dislocation of a twelve-minute service caused a rapid collection of homewards passengers, who waited on the platform until the station loudspeaker announced that buses were waiting to take them to their destinations. Several hundred people were delayed owing to the difficulty of finding emergency buses at short notice. The stoppage occurred to the 4.22 p.m. train from Wellington. The service was resumed with the running of the 5.35 p.m. train. One scheduled train a little later had to be cancelled owing to shortage of rolling-stock through the disorganisation of the normal running. "Any inconvenience which may have been caused to suburban travellers is much regretted by the Department," said the General Manager of Railways, Mr. G. H. Mackley, when asked the cause of the trouble today. "The problem, experienced last night was not dissimilar to the black-out which occurred the previous evening in the lighting system over a large portion of the North Island, inasmuch as a slight defect manifested itself in the current-limiting relay controlling the power to the motors. "As I have previously explained on several occasions, until these multipleunits have had a reasonable period of running-inj minor defects of the kind may show themselves at any time until we are rid of 'teething- troubles.' Eight buses were put on to relieve those waiting, and these had all departed laden at 4.55 p.m. Buses were also run outwards at 5.8 p.m., 5.18 p.m., 5.35 p.m., and 5.40 p.m. Actually, the platforms were cleared at 5.35 p.m. "Obviously the way to find out any difficulties with a new service of the kind is to put the vehicles into ordinary service conditions. It was unfortunate that at the time this one unit caused the trouble the line was carrying its peak load. "The alternative to trial under service conditions would be to defer the introduction of the service. All of these vehicles were given reasonable trial runs, and we were quite satisfied with the performances they put up. We are confident that the recurrence of these troubles will become more and more remote. These motor coaches are much more finely adjusted than steam locomotives, and electricity has proved itself a playful thing, as everyone knows. The occasional troubles incidental to the inauguration of such a service are more than offset by the general benefit derived from even its initial operation. We are sure that an understanding community will appreciate some of the problems associated with the introduction of a service of the kind, particularly on a single line of railway where a disablement of the sort blocks all train movements. In this respect we are not so fortunate as some other countries which have several tracks on which to work the traffic. Under normal conditions the existing line is equal to the ordinary demands of the business. "The city electric tramways have the same type of trouble to contend with from time to time. We are very hopeful that instances of the kind on the railways will totally disappear, and that 'teething troubles' will be replaced by the establishment of a service of full dependability."