NEARING COMPLETION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 36, 12 February 1940, Page 9

NEARING COMPLETION

RAILWAY DEVIATION

THE TURAKINA-OKOIA JOB

(By Telegraph—Press,;Association.)

WANGANUI, February 10.

Work is proceeding steadily on the Okoia-Turakina railway deviation, which will shorten the' route by four miles straighten the line and eliminate grades between Palmerston North and Wanganui.

The Denlair tunnel, three-quarters of a mile long, has been pierced and the Turakina tunnel, a mile and a quarter long, is expected to be finished by April. The total deviation is ten miles long.

The new line will leave the present line near Turakina,' and after crossing the Turakina and Wangaehu Rivers and the Wangaehu Valley, will rejoin the existing line about a mile and a half south of Okoia, The work, which was begun in 1936, is estimated to cost more than £500,000.

At Turakina, 140 men are working. The Denlair complement, which at one stage was SOO, has dwindled to 42, following the finishing of the tunnel.

The express train time-table between Turakina and Aramoho, which at present shows a running time of nearly an hour, should be shortened by at least half an hour through the elimination of steep grades. Based on present traffic a saving of between £4000 and £5000 a year should result in haulage costs on the line.