SOUTH TRUNK RAILWAY

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 22

SOUTH TRUNK RAILWAY

1,000 MEN ON JOB IN SIX MONTHS VIRTUALLY NEW PLANT [Pek United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, July 3. One thousand men will be working on the completion of the South Island Main Trunk railway between Parnassus and Wharanui before the end of this vear, according to a statement by the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, in an interview this evening before he left for Auckland. Work on the line will bo started immediately, the first task being the construction of the main headquarters camps. The Minister said that the line would be commenced on a basis more or less similar to that in operation when the, construction was stopped, with the main headquarters camps at Parnassus in the south and on tljc Clarence River in the north. The Minister indicated that the job would require virtually all new' l plant. Much of this had already been ordered. For the work at the north end it would all have to be new. The plant ordered included 10 new Diesel shovels for excavation or filling, and petrol and Diesel oil locomotives for use on the light constructional lines. It would bo the first time these Diesel shovels had been used' extensively on any job in the Dominion. At the moment only carpenters have been engaged for the work along the line, hut the Public Works Department is now in process of. registering constructional workers at Blenheim. It was stated that the men would be placed on-the job gradually, the plan being to work up to 1,000 by somewhere near the end of the year. One of the first major jobs the Minister stated to-day, would be to restore the existing sections of the lino to the order in which they were left. As he had indicated before this would take many thousands of pounds and many men. The department has selected the engineers and overseas for each end of the line. At the northern end the engineer in charge will be Mr C. Langbein, and Mr W. E. Young will have charge of the southern section.