SUBURBAN TRAIN SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16761, 30 January 1918, Page 4

SUBURBAN TRAIN SERVICES.

The announcement of tho intended resumption of evening trains on the suburban lines is not unexpected. It has been evident for some time that tho drastic reduction made in May last was not wholly necessary, and that it has proved expensive fcjr the country. The fall of railway revenue indicated that the Department had cut itself out of a highly profitable portion of its business, and the accompanying rise in j expenses did not reflect the serious and irremediable depletion of staff which was represented as the cause of the curtailment. In May, suburban residents were placed in a false position. The Minister and his Department insisted that tho running of evening trains meant keeping back eligible men from military service. The ground was thus cut from under the feet of suburban residents whose insistence upon a reasonably convenient arrangement of trains might have been interpreted as due to a lack of appreciation of army requirements. Since then there have been other opportunities to judgo of the proceedings of the Department, and to most people it appears that its grtidging release of men for the camps contrasts unfavourably with its sweeping reductions in travelling facilities. The inconveniences of the present suburban time-table have been suffered with remarkable patience, but not without - a conviction that they could have been avoided by a more flexible management. Even now it appears that a bargain is being struck with the Defence Department to release men due to go to camp. It will naturally occur to the public that these men have been in the railway service since May. If their retention is sufficient to enable a limited restoration of evening trains to tho suburbs, it may reasonably be asked* why such trains have not been run for the past eight months. This is, a matter calling for more explanation than the Minister has given. Meantime, it is satisfactory that the Department has repented of its unpopular decision, and has decided for the future to pay some attention to suburban requirements.