DOUBLING THE TUNNEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14392, 10 June 1910, Page 6

DOUBLING THE TUNNEL.

TIME NOT YET ARRIVED. THE MINISTER'S VIEW. j OTHER RAILWAY NEEDS. I CONTEMPLATED EXPENDITURE.

A conference was held at the Government Buildings, Custom-street, yesterday morning, between the Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Railways, and the committee appointed by the Mayor of Auckland, to adjudicate upon the question of the duplication of the Parnell tunnel in ; accordance with the agreement arrived at in October, 1905, with the then Minister for Railways, Sir Joseph Ward. The members of the committee present were Messrs. L. J. Bagnail (Mayor of Auckland), D. Goldie, and Arthur M.Myers (ex-Mayors), G. L. Peacocke (chairman of the Auckland Railways League), A. J. Entrican (chairman of the Auckland Harbour v Board), J. H. Gunson (president of the Auckland ' Chamber of Commerce), and J, C. Macky. The remaining members of the committee, Messrs. A. B. Roberton, T. Finlayeon, and J. Hume, were unavoidably absent. Aesociated with the Minister were Mr. T. W. Waite (district traffic manager), and Mr. F. Mcintosh (district railways engineer). The Mayor (Mr. L. J. Bagnall) asked the Minister to state the position from his point of view. \ ,-'" . . The Minister, in complying, said ft promise had been made by the present Prime Minister, when Minister for Railways, that upon completion of the Auckland to Penrose railway duplication he was prepared to submit the matter of the duplication of "the Parnell tunnel to 10 representative men of Auckland for them ;to decide. The names submitted to him fully complied with the stipulation made. : , In dealing with this question, he considered they .would deal with it as representative men, not of Auckland city alone, but from the broader view of the country as a whole, and as businessmen. The railways were the largest commercial undertaking we had in New Zea- j land, and he thought he; would bo able to show • them as representatives of the community that the time for the expenditure of money on the duplication of the Parnell tunnel had not yet arrived. The only justification for such expenditure would be i the inability of the. present tunnel to cope j with the existing ', traffic, or that of the immediate future. He thou they would give the Department credit for being as ; i desirous of overtaking the trade offering as j anyone else, because the Department ' realised that in order to make the ; railways | pay it had to keep its rolling stock travel-- | ling as :. fast as possible,„ and , anything | which;caused a delay woulu be injurious. ,; '; PAST HISTORY. * •' ■V; The Minister, continuing, said he would i like to give them some ancient history. V- A i demand for the duplication of the tunnel and of the railway dine; to Penrose was made as far back as 1882, and a reply was ; given that the traffic did not justify the ex- | penditure. A report was prepared showing that at that/time only ; 26 trains per day' j went through, and to-day )the" Department I was' just as able to easily deal with the i traffic t as it Was then. -. In -1885 a survey was made over two alternative routes between Auckland and Penrose, . via Mechanics' Bay and HobsOn Bay, both of which would have had to pace through a tunnel under the Remiiera Road. These routes would ..have, given an cader grade, but- would have run into an expenditure of about a quarter of a million, which was too large. The trade over the' Auckland section had increased to such an extent that five years ago 84 trains per day passed through. the tunnel, and :to-day that number: had increased to 106/ These - 106 trains in, passing through occupied 11 hours 55 minutes, and if the Department was put ; to it;it could run through as manysas* 240 trains in the 24 hours. ; ' : ; COST OF £35,000 OR £40,000. ' He asked them, as business men, to consider whether, if they had premises capable Of carrying double the stock they possessed, they , would deem it advisable to make expensive additions to those premises. The cost of duplicating the Parnell tunnel would not be a stumbling block =if the work was actually 'necessary; as that could be accomplished for an expenditure of £35,000 or £40,000. That* would include the duplication of the line between the tunnel and Newmarket, which was the only portion of the line between Auckland and Penrose hot duplicated. *" It had been paid that the Department at \ present kept signalmen at the mouth of the Pa men [ tunnel ;\ and that by duplicating ,it the ;: Department would be able to ' l dispense with ; the > services of these : men..- Even if .this were the case the amount i saved by /dispensing i with the services of two men would not bear comparison with i the interest;" which ; would •■" nave ; to bebaid on an expenditure of £35,000 or ±;40,000. He pointed out, however, that the?-railways;;were" worked on the total block system, and ,that if they duplicated ,-the t tunnel the-tf would have '. to shift the signalmen from? the j tunnel to Newmarket, so that no saving iat all would be effected. Furthermore, he wished to point out that even j looking.; forward '-'ah' enormous increase ?in the ; traffic, the Department with , a little further addition jto the Auckland railway station could, deal with 240 trains per day with an eight "minutes' break. The tunnel at present was not being used for even one half of the day j' there being some 12 hours five minutes left in which to deal with increased demand. ?;: The Departmental officials advised; him 1 that so far as the Auckland trade was concerned the tunnel would not require to be duplicated for the next -; 15 or 16 years. \. - . . . -

MORE URGENT WORKS. He was = prepared to supply them with the fullest information 'possible, and he felt confident that when they considered this they ; would agree that the duplication of the tunnel ,should' be; allowed to stand over for/ much more , urgent Works required on the Auckland section itself. At Tuakau the Department was spending £7000 in improving the grade, and this '• was but the. commencement > of' a big scheme of alterations in improving the grades on the line. The Department had big: difficulties to contend * with. ■;>, . The ; traction power of the engines was limited by -i the steepest grades^' arid;; if they eased these grades it followed) that .they: could 'increase the earning power of their rolling stock. He thought that during the next two or three years the Department would be spending £75.000 or - £100,000 in * reducing the grades on the Auckland section. This, however, was only I one item.. So far as the Auckland railway yards' were concerned the Department found that an expenditure of something like £100,000 would be necessary within the next five years. :: t'£fi*-- ■-'•'■' : " v -' <\':i THE MINISTER QUESTIONED. Mr. Myers Da you contend that by the duplication of, the tunnel no greater facilities will be afforded for transit than provided by the one tunnel at present? The Minister : That is our contention. Mr. Peacocke: May I ask if there is any advantage in duplicating the line without duplicating the tunnel, .so far as coping with the traffic is concerned"? •' .';... The Minister: The only part of the line not duplicated is that from the Newmarket end of the .tunnel to Newmarket itself. At present we can despatch trains from. Auckland and .Newmarket simultaneously. ,»'.:•■■■ ■'■■■■' ■ , '-■; ."' :■■-..■■■ *" Mr. Peacocke ;'■:.■;: You gain '; something there,* but not / so much as you would otherwise find, ■: if;; '.;;" :■;,',>- V ■•■ '-■'--': : i/. .Mr. Bagnall : You speak of running 106 trains in.: 11 hours and 50 minutes, but

does not „ the. Department find that the traffic is greater during, the day than at night time* _ That is what we find in the tram service. The Minister : At present we run; a lot of goods; trains in the daytime, and when we want to run more passenger trains these can displace the goods trains, which may be run at night-time. That is what is"r done in older ; countries, and on the Manawatu line we are gradually having to run our goods traffic at night. If you can send a train away every eight minutes you can , deal with a pretty large traffic. ■ Mr. Peacock© : The Rotorua train was hung up for a-quarter of an hour the other morning, owing to another ■ train being hung up in the tunnel. Thatdelay would not have occurred if there were two tunnels. ~ . V The Minister: We, admit that. You can deal with double the traffic with a duplicate tunnel, but the point is whether such a delay is worth an expenditure of £35,000 or '£40,000. - . ' Mr. Wait© : That only happens once in about six months. - " Mr. Gbldie ":: You say that £35,000 is required. How much of that is required for the purchase of land itself? ' ; - The Minister : That will be given. : . Mr. Golclie: I ask that because of the increase that might take place in the price of the land. ... .- ! Mr. Eritrican: Your figures don't agree. ; If it takes 11 hours 50 minutes to handle ; 106 trains, it would be a mathematical impossibility to bundle 240 in 24 hours, 'i If you double 106 that makes 212, and j allowing one more for the extra five minutes. tktot makes 213. -How do you get 240 - The Minister : I said with eight minute breaks. We can get it with five minute breaks. ■■' ','■/■■ Mr. Entrican : I do not think you will find the 10 gentlemen present convinced that the Parnell tunnel will meet double our requirements. The Minister : That would not be admitted in 1882. . " .*. . Mr. Myers : With reference to the 106 trains you have given, is that ;; ordinary or extraordinary traffic? Does it include race trains? The Minister: The 106 trains I have mentioned is the . highest number that have ever run in"and out of Auckland in one day. - ■ '_ Mr. ' Peacocke : Can you give us the average number of trains run through daily ■■ ■•'■ The Minister said 84 trains a day was the average number. v -' . . V Mr. Entrican: When does the Department think, this duplication will be necessary f The Minister : As soon as we find we cannot' handle the traffic we will go'on with , the duplication. Mr. Gunson : Will the Commission be permitted to visit the tunnel and make a personal inspection, besides calling for information required ? - • The Minister : I am quite willing to supply you with all particulars, and to ] prove that the tunnel is at the present ■ time only occupied up to half its capacity. j • The members of, the committee then i withdrew. \: ■ ■'" fl'h ' >:'V ; ■:-■■'" '■ ''■ [ ii-"s ; '-'■ ■ i-" THE MINISTER'S FACTS. TO MAKE THE COMMITTEE THINK. .The, question of the duplication of the tunnel also cropped up during the interview between the Minister; and the subi urban deputation, which took place later | in' the day, and, during which a request i was made i," for an ;■ alteration in the time of an early workmen's train. ?¥>■.. ; Sir. Millar said that early workers' trains ; ran from Onehunga and from beyond Ota--huhu, as well as from Avondale, and all these trains had to pass through the Parnell tunnel, which was worked . on the block system, and about six minutes had to elapse before one train could follow another through the tunnel. ;' . s Mr. J. Gardner: Why not run the Katpara train by way of Ponsonby, and so avoid the tunnel? | Mr. Millar: That would cost about a j quarter of a million. • "; , Mr. Gardner: Well, it might take about a quarter of a million to duplicate the tunnel. ';:?"' Mr. A. andisori : I suppose* the duplication of the tunneli is to be done? ■ • Mr. Millar Vl' have laid/the; case; before the local committee appointed and ■ I will give them* some facts which will: make them put on their; considering caps.