BULLER GORGE LINE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 107, 2 November 1939, Page 5

BULLER GORGE LINE

Notwithstanding weather unlikely to be met with on any other work in New Zealand, the construction of the :■ Westport-Inangahua railway has pro- y . gressed - satisfactorily, and its completion inside twelve months is predicted by-the Minister of Public Works (the y Hon. R. Semple), states a Greymouth .; correspondent. Probably another six months will pass before the line Is : , opened for traffic. The vagaries of y West Coast weather have interfered ;'{ ,with the construction of this line . /; through the precipitous Buller Gorge. £■ Although the headquarters camp at -..i Tiroroa is only 14 miles from the coast, -v \ the rainfall there is double that ."at .< Westport, the high recording of 211_- , " X inches being made last year. Few. other parts of New Zealand measure their rainfall in yards, as does the. Buller y Gorge. Exceptional figures, for railway "i construction in this' country have been - ,}_ created on the Buller line. More than ~s| two-thirds of the line is on curves, and • ,Xi the 181-mile stretch has fourteen major -f bridges and 150 culverts. Some-of.the' * *-/ I bridges are built on curves, necessi- 5 tating the canting of the-decking, to -'; carry the rails. Expressing satisfaction with the progress of the construction, y> Mr. Semple said the importance of the ;- line was being enhanced by the likely \ ,- $ early increase in productivity bf the '. ft; Buller district through. the • land de- • "j velopment schemes being earned out ,-y by the Government. ' "-£