£1,000,000 PLAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 16 March 1939, Page 7

£1,000,000 PLAN

RIMUTAKA TUNNEL SURVEY WORK IN HAND INVESTIGATING METHODS (United Pres* Aseocisr inn) WELLINGTON. 15th March. Survey work is being done as a prei liminary to the construction the tunnel it is proposed lo pierce through the i Rimutaka range The Minister of Pubj lie Works, the Hon. R. Semple, in an ; interview this evening, said that actual : construction work would not be commenced until some of the present tun--1 nelling jobs had been completed and the necessary mechanical equipment and | experienced tunnellers could be trans- ! ferred lo the Rimutaka project. A survey over the top of the RimuI taka range, said Mr Semple, was an essentia! preliminary 1o the construction of the tunnel. The survey pegs would prr id-* th? means by which tie alignment would be maintained and centres would be cheeked with a theodolite during the tunnelling “We arc not Roing to buy any new ! tunnelling mechanism for the construci tion of the tunnel through the Rimutakas. ’ said Mr Semple. In the rreanj time tie w'as looking into the latest I tunnelling methods practised abroad. particularly in the United States, so that j the most modern methods could be j used when a start was made. He was not altogether sat;, fieri that the methods at present in use in New Zealand represented th* latest in underground work The Cabinet s approval of a proposal to construct a railway tunnel five and ■ a-quarter miles in ’ength through the Rimutaka Range, at an estimated cost of approximately £1.000.000. was an r.ounccd by the Prime Minister. Mr Savage, in June last year The tunnel will be practically the same length athe Otira tunnel, which is the longest railway tunnel in the British Empire It will run :rom Marearoa to Cxo«' Creek u was estimated that the wowould take five years.