A BIG TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 July 1939, Page 10

A BIG TASK

RAILWAY DEVIATION

MANAWATU SCHEME

PROGRESS OF WORK

(Special to the '•Evening Post."i

PALMERSTON N.. This Dv.-

The largest Public Works project in the Manawatu at present, with the exception of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Station at Ohakea. is the Palmerston North railway deviation scheme, which embraces the building of a new station on the sides of Rangitikei Line beyond Boundary Road and the deviation of the Wellington-Auckland railway line from Longburn to the vicinity of Kelvin Grove as well as the rearrangement of the Napier line to conform to the new site of the city station.

The estimate of the cost given when the announcement was made that the work Was to be resumed was £746.000. of which a considerable proportion will be required for the building of bridges, overbridges, and structures fo.v the handling of goods and passenger traffic and administrative activities.

The preliminary work was undertaken in June ot last year, and in a little over twelve months on fewer than 150,000 cubic yards of spoil have been shifted by means of mechanical excavators and lorries which have worked in the cuttings at the Milson end and built up the area on that side of Rangitikei Line for the goods yards. A lot of earth has also been taken to the Longburn side of the road for the

passenger station

The construction of overbridges has been put in hand at the extreme ends of the deviation at Ashhurst and Longburu. where level crossings are being eliminated. Altogether mere will be eleven of these, or possibly fewer if certain roads are concentrated at one spot. The mosl elaborate will be over Rangitikei Line, where provision will have to be made for traffic to the passenger station as well as that going past on the main road.

The covering-in of the Kawau drain by means of a concrete culvert about , 750 feet long with a clear span of 18 j feet and a depth of 17 feet is one of | the bigger preliminary works, and the • construction of a bridge over the i Mangaone Stream to give space for I fi Tre sets of rails is another. Both are \ proceeding. The initial appropriation was £25,000, and a further vote will have to be made in the current year towards the cost of the deviation. EARLY NEGOTIATIONS. Reviewing the circumstances which led up to the decision in January last ;year to resume work on the deviation, Mr. J. Hodgens. member of Parliament for Palmerston North, said that Cabinet decided on April .11. 1929, that the work previously authorised was not to be proceeded with, and authority was given for the expenditure of £33,000 for carrying out improvements to the existing railway facilities at the site in Main Street, ■ j

The Mayor of Palmerston North in June, 1933, wrote to the Minister of Finance urging that the railway deviation scheme be gone on with, or, failing that, the present risk to human life, which the Mayor stated existed, be reduced either by a system of subways or by sinking the line, the work in connection with the proposal to be done by unemployed labour.

I The matter was considered by the | Railways Board, which, in declining to recommend that it be proceeded with, made some observations. These were to the effect that the board could not see any prospect of the deviation when completed becoming a profitable investment. The cost was estimated at over £500,000. the greater part of which, it considered, would have to be spent on materials as distinct from labour. The proposal to sink the line was regarded as impracticable for many reasons, among" which was the expense involved. Again, the construction of overbridges was then estimated to cost £50,000 each for those required between the present station and Terrace End. less than a third being for labour.

The Minister of Railways (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan), in July.. 1936, after visiting Palmerston North and inspecting the site and observing the working conditions both by day and night, approved an investigation being made by a committee of departmental experts regarding the desirability of work being resumed in connection with the deviation of the main line.

After making an independent and a careful examination of the situation as | it then existed, this committee recommended as follows: —"In view of the ] present unsatisfactory position at] Palmerston North and the increasing traffic, immediate and prospective, it is most desirable and urgent to proceed with the Palmerston North deviation and rearrangement scheme as soon as possible. Cabinet approved the recommendation and placed the sum of £25,000 on the Estimates for | the year ending March 31. 1938. FIRST PROPOSAL. The question of deviating the line in order to avoid congestion .at Palmerston North was first raised in 1920, when the General Manager of Railways visited the citj' and discussed the matter with the Borough Council. It was proposed that the line should be deviated at Longburn and proceed by way of Boundary Road on the northern outskirts of the town, joining the existing line in the vicinity of Ter-j race End The new station was to be i erected on a site on the western side of Rangitiksi. Line, a distance of one mile 32 chains from the Square

It is interesting to recall that although the then Borough Council supported the Department's proposal a petition was sent to Wellington by 37 business people protesting against the removal of the station because of the increased cartage charges on goods that would result from the change, depreciation of properties contiguous to the existing facilities, and foi the reason that the large sum involved could be spent, to belter advantage. The Palmerston North Railway Vigilance League also raised objections.

However, a deputation representing the then Palmerston North Borough Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Kairanga County Council waited upon the Prime Minister. Minister of Public Works, and the Minister of Lands strongly urging that the deviation be constructed, and a special Government Commission formed the opinion that the existing railway facili ties were inadequate. They recommended a deviation from Longburn rejoining the main line between Ter race End and Bunnythorpe.

Cabinet adopted this report in 192] and work on the deviation was commenced by the Public Works Department on May 31. 1926. The cost of the work was then estimated at £390,000, and of this amount £158.018 was actually expended by the Public Works Department before the work was