RAILWAY DUPLICATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13613, 5 December 1907, Page 6

RAILWAY DUPLICATION.

SUBSTANTIAL IMPKOVEMENTS

END OF THE WORK IN SIGHT.

It was with a view to coping with the increased traffic on our suburban lines, and the probable greatly increased use of the railway when the Main Trunk railway is completed, that the Government decided on the duplication of the railway between Auckland and Penrose. The work has been in progress for many months now'',' and much has- been done, but a, good ueal yet remains to be done. The work has been retarded" oVing to the non-arrival of material from Home, the difficult nature of some of the country, and other causes, but those who go over the line now will see what a- big undertaking the duplication is. Traffic has no* been in the least interfered with. Proceeding from Auckland it is 6een that the formation of the bank between the city and the Newmarket tunnel has been completed, while the additional line of rails will be laid on this section, within the next month or six weeks. The masonry woik and piers for the Paruell bridge, which will be a single-span structure over the main road, were completed a couple of months ago. It is expected tint Messrs. Anderson Bros.-, of C'hristcburch, the- contractors, will make a start with the iron superstructure us soon as the material arrives. They intend removing their shops (fitted with a tine electric plant) from Makatote, where they are erecting the viaduct, and reerecting them near, Parnell bridge. Here the whole of the tresses and girders for the new -ridge will be made, ,and the work will lake some months. In view of the late starting of this work, the formation whs not pushed ahead. us until the bridge is erected the new line cannot be used. Nothing has yet been decided upon regarding the widening of the Newmarket tunnel, or iho construction of another tunnel, and .so the traffic over the double line will have to still be run over the single line through the tunnel. Beyond the tunnel, to Penrose, the formation work ha* been almost completed, and some of it has been through very difficult, rocky country. PARTICULARS OF WORKS. At Newmarket itself little has so far been done, ;>s the ordinary observer can, see, but the delay in commencing tue erection of the new station at this now important junction, as the trains for the Kaipara deviate from here, has been due to the non-arrival of material from Home. All the necessary timber is on the. ground for the new station buildings. These cannot, however, be commenced until the present platform has been widened by lOlt, and this work would at present interfere with the whore of the interlocking at the station. There will be a new inter-locking signal box erected here, and the station points will be adjusted in accordance with the extensions, before the present arrangements will be disturbed.

The new station at Newmarket, though of wood, will be of an up-to-date and modern character, and commensurate with the importance of the place. The present building is 1221t long bv> lift 6m wide, but the new station will 'be 182 ft by 15ft, while there will be a 12ft platform on each side. The station will be ejected on the island principle, a set of rails deviating on each side. There will bo a ramp footway running direct on to the platform from the Remuera Road bridge, while the present footbridge from the Manukaußoad will serve as an additional feeder. The whole of the sidings will bo rearranged, and additional sidings put in on the east* side of the station to cope with the expected increase of traffic. The station rooms will be larger than the present ones,and will include all rooms and conveniences usually connected with an up-to-date station building. It will be of one storey, while there will bo a covered verandah running 131 ft on each side of the building for the full width of the platform. The roof will be of tiles, and the verandah will bo fitted with skylights to give the maxi- j mum amount of light. Beyond Newmarket a great amount of work has been done, while the finishing i (ouches are only required in some instances. The Remuera station building is about completed. It is similar in design to what the Newmarket structure will be, but on a smaller scale. The station building is also erected on the island- principle, as, indeed, all the stations will be, while the platforms will be longer and wider in each case. At Greenlane all the excavation work has been completed, and the laying of the track and the erection of a new station building will be proceeded'with immediately. The reason for the delay in laying down the track has been that a large amount of rock was met with here, and this was used in constructing the masonry piers, but the latter work will bo completed in a fortnight or so. The Oreenlane station will provide accommodation for a permanent official.

The new Ellerslie station yard is practically completed, and the traffic will be diverted from the old station to the new from next Sunday morning. The old premises will be immediately removed, and the completion of the road-bridge over the Panmure Road, alongside the station, will be pushed on as rapidly as possible. At Penrose the masonry piers for the overhead bridge and the" embankment for the road crossing are still in hand, but good progress is being made. At this station, like most of the other important crossings, there will be the overhead traffic bridge, with embankments on each side, thus reducing the risk of accident to a minimum. The track from Ellerslie. to Penrose has been laid, but it still requires ballasting. ROAD-BRIDGES AND SUBWAYS. A feature of the work will be tho roadbridges, intersecting Remuera Road. St. Mark's Road, Market Road (at Remiiera station). Greenlane, Ellerslie, and Penrose. They will be of a handsome and very substantial character. While there will be slight variations, according to the circumstances, connected with each crossing, the designs will be similar, and a great improvement on the wooden structures which now exist at some of the crossings. The bridges will be constructed of masonry piers, with rolled steel joists, and concrete jack arches and floors, the latter being covered with the ordinary macadam. They will be in two sections, a supporting pier being in the centre, the metals deviating on each side. With one exception provision will be made for 50ft for vehicular traffic, and an Bft footway on each side for passengers. Tho exception will be St. Mark's Road bridge, which will have a 32ft roadway, with an Bft footway on either side. In all cases the ramp to the statiou platform will proceed from the centre pier of the bridge direct on to the platform from the road, so th.it passengers will not have to cross any rails. At the Remuera Road bridge there will be sufficient space on one side of the centre pier to admit of two sets of rails being laid, and one set on the other side of the pier. The ramp at the Newmarket and Remuera stations will be of ferro-eoncrete, and at the others solid structures, with masonry fronts. There will also be two subways on the works. One will be near the Ellerslie racecourse, and the second just beyond this at Gladstone-street. The former subway will be three or four chains above the old road. Each of these will be 40ft in width, with the walls and roof in concrete. They are intended for the vehicular traffic. For the foot passengers two subways, each 12ft wide, will also be provided, and these ought to be completed in time for the summer meeting at Ellerslie. Thus two entrances from the railway will be provided to the racecourse, and this ought to relieve the congestion that sometimes takes place. Two platforms will also be erected at the racecourse siding, one on the up and the other on the down line, and these should bo completed in another week. A. subway will connect both platforms. Mr. Mcintosh, district engineer, anticipates that the end of the work will be. reached next March or April; at any rate the finishing touches will then only be re- , quired. '