BRANCH RAILWAYS

Northern Advocate, 19 July 1935, Page 4

BRANCH RAILWAYS

POLICY OF DEPARTMENT. STATEMENT ISSUED. , DUTY OF COMMUNITY. \ A number of the branch railway lines are still a cause of some difficulty to the Railways Board, according to a statement on various aspects of policy and recent developments, which was issued last night. “The policy of the board during the last four years has been one of stimulation of branch line traffic, and, where possible, elimination of wasteful competition, thus bringing the lines in question to a financial position which will warrant their continued operation,” said the statement. “The board has always been imbued with a recognition of the paramount importance of the railway system as the first line of transport for the Dominion. It is now reaching a point where a number of weaknesses which have been the subject of constant and close consideration over four years, call for further close review. “So long as a community served by, or in proximity to, any section of railway values and uses that railway to the full degree of its capacity, the board has no ground for complaint against the respective local communities. In such conditions it is called upon to consider the interests involved from the national standpoint. “If there is a failure to recognise the value of the railway services to the community by any district which, they were designed to serve and the system is run unprofitably, there then is cast upon the board a responsibility to determine just how far a subsidy, so to speak, from the general taxpayer is due to a community thus withholding its full support/ from the railway system. Public Recognition. “The board finds with considerable ,satisfaction that there is an increasing recognition of its work and patronage on the part of the public, both in passengers and goods. It realises in regard to that a responsibility to modernise the system to the greatest practical degree and afford to the public the greatest convenience in travel and facility in goods despatches. The recognition of this obligation is becoming more and more apparent throughout, the service.

“The operating of trallic has been receiving very close consideration. The recent changes announced by the general manager affecting the central North Island main trunk traffic and the Wanganui section, with extensive changes at Ohakune, arc almost complete. The position of superintendent of traffic for the Dominion has been revived. The late district traffic manager at Auckland, Mr G. Wilson, recently transferred to this post, is nowdirecting from Wellington these interests for the entire system. “One of the most important railway works the board is handling is that arising out of the new station yards and the rearrangement of traffic facilities at Wellington,” the statement concludes.

“Early transfer qf all present traffic from the Johnsonville line to the Tawa Flat deviation, will mark a big advance in railway operations out of Wellington. In the course of a few months the board should be in a position to make a further statement affecting the entire situation in Wellington. Advantage will accrue to the Wellington public and railway users generally there by the transfer of the terminal point from Thorndon to Bunny Street, which will bring the railway passenger traffic practically into the heart of the city of Wellington."