THE TROUBLE WITH THE RAILWAY.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 13, 23 August 1928, Page 8

THE TROUBLE WITH THE RAILWAY.

The condition of the Hutt Railway line at the present moment is such as we hope may never again be experienced. An intimacy which takes in the whole period of the Railway construction policy is evidence to us of an inability to Tecall a condition of things similar to that forced on the attention of anyone being obliged to use the road between Petone and Ngahauranga. The complete wreckage. bringing with it the entire cessation of traffic on what is probably the busiest section of railway in the Dominion is too serious a .matter to be disposed of by the assurance that temporary repairs will soon be effected to enable a partial resumption of traffic in a few days and that it will be a considerable time before the line can be restored to its former condition. The promise to meet the immediate needs of the present is all very well but coming with it is the surely natural question as to what precautions are to be taken to avoid a similar experience and its attendant great discomforts. It must be borne in mind that any temporary repairs such as the restoring of the present line represents, if followed by a similar trouble must in the nature of things prove to be even more unfortunate than the present experience as every week and every month is the witness of an increasing population and a consequent greater aggregate measure of discomfftrt and loss which is intolerable to consider and not apply the true remedy. Added to this trouble is'the very limited road area now severely taxed by increasing traffic which in the interests of public safety must surely be widened. It would therefore seem that the time is ripe for combined action of all the wide and important interests involved to see to it that a sea wall protecting the line and extending work of the original line construction of the most durable and weather resisting materials available. That the present construction battered about as it has been by the elements, is not to be improved upon we refuse to believe, as the effect produced and the state of the wall seems to us evidence that the work of the oriignal line construction can be surely improved upon. However, this work of improvement assuring within human judgment the least possible discomfort to a considerable population is a most pressing matter and being so there are, we hope, in the Hutt Valley, interests so involved and concerned as to recognise that now is the time to take action to assure that no tinkering with an important, far reaching work will be tolerated, but that an understanding masterly grasping of the situation will lead to meeting all the difficulties to be overcome.