FERRY TRAINS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 December 1924, Page 8

FERRY TRAINS.

FROM PICTON TO WELLINGTON. A FUTURE POSSIBILITY. Future generations may enjoy unbroken railway passage from”’Whangarei to Bluff by nieans of a ferry train connecting tlie two islands. The idea is oy no means beyond .the bounds of possibility, and the Railway Commissioners ;Sir Sam lay and Sir Vincent Raven) see fit to comment on it in their report to the Minister for Railways' With the completion of the main line in the north of the' South Island, they point out, a ferry train between Picton and Wellington (or, if' possible, a bay with sheltered water and easily available by. a short railway nearer the South' Island) would give all the advantages of throughout rail transit between the two islands. “Some day, no doubt,” tlie Commissioners state, “this form of communication will he- established. The sooner it is done, looked at from a railway administration point of view only, the earlier will he the time when jt will he possible to operate the system as a whole as economically arid efficiently as iii countries where lines are not disjointed., The public aspect needs hut little demonstration. “Throughout communication would mak© the two Islands one in so far as Transport is concerned. Internal trade would benefit by through rates and fares and avoidance of break of hulk. The cost of landing stations and ferry-boats capable of conveying .unwards of fiftv ordinary goods vehicles need not entail very great expenditure in proportion to the* advantages foreshadowed and the prospects of revenue :to be obtained Probably £500,000 would he found sufficient. “Wherever train ferries have been provided they have developed travel and traffic to a very much greater extent than obtained under former shipping conditions. Between Denmark and Sweden, Germany and Sweden, in North and South America, this form of bridging • the seas has been adopted with success. Recently a train-ferry service has commenced to run across the North S.ea between Harwich', and Zeebrugge.”