RAILWAY DEVIATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 January 1944, Page 2

RAILWAY DEVIATION

TURAKIN A-OKOIA SECTIONBRIDGE AND TUNNEL WORK Because of a shortage ol manpower, the completion of the railway deviation between Turakina and Okoia, on the main line from Wellington to Wanganui and Taranaki, is being delayed. At present about 50 men are employed but it is stated that the work could absorb three times that number. The Turakina River has been bridged and preliminary work is in hand on a track which will give access to a tunnel between the Wangaehu and Turakina Rivers. Plant is also being assembled. The bridge over the Turakina is of the plate girder type and has four spans of 55ft each. The laying of the girders presented some unusual engineering problems. The next stage of the operations will be the provision of a temporary track over this bridge, after which no difficulty will be experienced in transporting materials to the southern portal of the first tunnel. The work is being carried out by the Works Department under the supervision of Mr E. D. Kalaugher. A further phase in the operations will be the riveting of the lengthy bridge which will span the Wangaehu River. A start will be made as soon as the required men are available. The bridge is of the through girder type and will contain six spans of 60ft in length. It will be mounted on five sets of concrete piers, which are already in position. The girders will be drawn across the bridge in successive stages. The longest tunnel on the 11-mile deviation is that between the two rivers. It has a length of 104 chains and was pierced before the war, after which construction was temporarily suspended, mainly because of a shortage of manpower and material. This tunnel is of a type new to New Zealand. Built after the American practice, it has straight walls and a semicircular top. The formations and roadbeds of the deviation have been completed, but the yet to begin.