MANY DIFFICULTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 129, 2 June 1945, Page 8

MANY DIFFICULTIES

RAILAGE TO LYTTELTON

P.A. CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Haulage of coal from the West Coast to Lyttelton for transhipment to the North Island would present many difficulties, but in an emergency some coal could be delivered to the North in this way, said a railway official this morning. A scheme had been prepared whereby North Island coal could be brought to Lyttelton for shipping, but should the scheme become operative, Canterbury coal supplies would have to suffer. In the allocation of waggons it was never intended that West Coast waggons should be brought over to Christchurch. At present hopper waggons could make three runs a day from, say, Granity to Westport. but it would take those waggons three or four days to make the run to Lyttelton and back. The whole success of such a scheme depended on a quick turn-round of waggons, and any delay at Lyttelton due to shipping, weather, or any other cause would immediately affect its smooth running. I 'In an absolute emergency, coal for the North Island could be brought to Lyttelton for shipping, but such a programme could not be sustained for any length of time.