BELAYED TRAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 96, 23 April 1940, Page 7

BELAYED TRAINS

UPPER HU+T SERVICE

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I- would appreciate .the cor operation of your 'column.' to ~ againi bring, before the notice of itHe Railway1Department the inefficiency, of ,this service. One would naturally expect

after so many similar protests that theDepartrtient .rwoiild /endeavour to pro-, vide the. Uppe* Valley residents; wifii' a service run ; as: near, as possible to the, advertised schedule. • The 6.19 pirn; train from Wellington on April 16," due at Upper. .Hutt; at 7.23 p.m., did not arrive therd until 7.43 p.m.,. exactly; 20 minutes late. No doubt, the Depart-^ ' ment wilL be able to give, you -some explanation for, the delay, but.'these continual excuses offer/little Vconsola- ,'• tion to tihie unfortunate passengers %iio have'to| endure the discomfort of long tiresqnie'"-journeys. It v: appears rather absurd in these •days. of fast travelling, that the New" 2ealandJ Railways, with their fanfare of efficiency publicity, cannot, arrange j a time-table to brmg city workers to I and fro, a distance of twenty miles, in considerably under .an hour. With, petrol restrictions preventing numerous residents from providing their own transport it was hoped that the Department should overhaul the old timetables and provide a fast, frequent service; but, no, with a complete mono-1 poly the position today is anything but satisfactory.—l am. etc., . NIGHT OWL. The Railway Department in reply states:— . . • . ' On the evening of Tuesday, April 16, the train to Upper Hutt, which preceeded the 6.19 p.m. train from Wellington, developed slight engine trouble and was delayed several minutes at Lower Hutt. This delay in turn reflected on the running of later trains over the single line of track between Lower Hutt ■* and Upper Hutt. The 6.19 p.m. train is scheduled as a mixed train, carrying goods as well as pas-, sengers, and must^ therefore run at a slower speed than an ordinary pas- ■ senger train. On the night in question a. wagon required to fill an urgent order from Trentham was placed on the train, and shunting this wagon off at Trentham further delayed the train. 1 i Between Upper Hutt and Wellington there are 12' intermediate stations at which stops are-made, and taking, into account the stopping and starting,of trains at these stations the average speed maintained by \ suburban passenger trains is 40, miles per hour. Should "Night Owl"' care to call at the Railway Department's offices the difficulties of operating the services over the single line track will be explained to him. :

THeprevious, correspondent in thanking, the. "Evening Post" for making representations to the Railway Department.Regarding the delay of the 7.53 a.m. train for Upper Hutt on Thursday morning, states that the Departr me'nt's explanation of the failure of the .automatic signal is no doubt a valid excuse for that particular happening.; 'He, however, takes exception to the ;fapt that the Department, in reply-: to;.his. complaint that for a long time: past the Upper Hutt-Wellington service has been extremely inefficient, states "the train services between Wellington and Upper Kutt maintain as a general rule reasonably good time." This, he s?ys, is quite contrary to facts. He adds that if the Department is going to sit back and do nothing it is-quite time, that-representations were made to the Minister.