NORTH AUCKLAND LINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18566, 26 November 1923, Page 11

NORTH AUCKLAND LINE.

WHANGAREI CONNECTION. '

HANDING OVER NEXT SPRING

TIME-TABLE ANOMALIES.

The railway connection between Auckland and Whangarei and the North has now been in existence for 11 months. Since September 1 last passengers have been able to make the through journey without changing carriages. ' The full benefit from these improved communications will not be felt, however, until the section of the railway, Huarau to Portland, now under the control of the Public Works Department, is handed over to ! the Railways. Department. That event is expected to take place after next winter. The Public Works Department, states iu.e district engineer, Mr. J. McEnnis, will have completed work on the section within nine months, but th; Railways Department will probably require that the construction be put to the test of another winter before taking over. This is probably desirable to permit the final settling of earth embankments and the further stabilisation of cuttings. When the whole line is under single control, a great improvement on present services may be expected. It is anticipated that the through passenger train will occupy 5£ to 6 hours on the journey of 131 miles, instead of 7J, to 8 hours as at present. Moreover, trams on the Whangarei-Opua line are to connect with the service to and from Auckland, which again will dovetail with the Southern expresses. Within a year a business man or tourist should be able to be in Whangarei 24 hours after leaving Wellington, a journey of 550 miles, and reach Opua, on the Bay of Islands, the same evening. Under present dual control, freights from Auckland to Whangarei are calculated on three sections; this handicap on through haulage will be removed next summer with the coming of single controL , Even under existing conditions, the growing use of the overland route for passengers and goods traffic is # gratifying. The passenger accommodation is generally fully occupied and, in its last annual report, the Whangarei Harbour Board ascribes the falling-off in passenger traffic at the port partly to the intervention of the railway. _ Growth of the Traffic.

Figures taken from the monthly railway returns cannot yet be considered a reliable guide, but it may be mentioned that the revenue on the Whangarei section for the last monthly period showed a 25 per cent, increase on that for the corresponding period last year, while the expenditure pei cent of revenue has beer reduced from 128.95 to 126.43. Passenger and goods traffic on the new section have already proved so heavy that the Public Works Department has had to borrow the services of an experienced railway officer to control the business. But it is from the closer settlement and fuller development of the land that the most important results should accrue. Observation,- even of the limited area visible from a railway carriage window, shows that this process is already commencing. The land in many places is being turned over and cultivated ready for grass. In one place, farm workers were seen broadcasting manure by hand, n/oof that the pioneer knack of .makeshift is not yet lost. New houses occasionally indicated fresh settlement, and the splendid pastures in the Mangapai and Waikiefcie districts are the promise of what the whole land may be made to produce with the application of labour and capital.

Programme of ballasting. A very heavy programme of ballasting is being carried out by the Public Works Department on the line. About 30,000 yards of metal will be used before the winter on the tracks' and in station yards. A modern crushing plant has been, installed at Tararoa, where occurs the only outcrop of andesite rock near a railway north of Auckland. Besides its use on the tracks, a further 20,000 yards of metal will be quarried this summer for roads adjoining the railway. Apart from ballasting, work for some time past has been confined to the removal of the slips which have occurred from one end of the line to the other. A large number of steam shovels have been used, and without their aid the line could not have been kept open, as it has been, for uninterrupted traffic. Some quite small cuttings have repeatedly given trouble, the earth again crowding on to the line after the latter had been cleared. The traces of a particularly large slip can be observed near Paparewa. But the line is now gradually settling down. Work is being done in the draining of slips and in gpawling the banks against any further movement. Work on Station Buildings.

Timber for all station buildings is being cut at the department's. mill; at Donnelly's Crossing. Work on these buildings is well under way and in several cases the goods sheds are completed., At Whangarei the Railway Department is well forward with the preparation of the site of the new station and yards. These are about 300 yards south from the present station and the road giving access to the latter is to bo continued as the approach to the new biddings. The area of the new yards, 12 «.o 16 acres, is commensurate with Whangarei's growing status as a railway centre. The site was low-lying land and mangrove swamp to fill which 60,000 yards of spoil was brought from Hoey's Bluff" the earth being dug from the hill by. two stenin shovels. The site of the station building on the east side of the yard is now being reclaimed. Work on' the engine sheds is well advanced. Fifteen engines are at present stationed at Whangarei, but the number will be increased when the through railway is taken over. On the west side of the yards provision has boon mad© for a large cattle siding. The whole plan is expected to bo completed by next spring. At long last the railway between Auckland, Whangarei and all the North is thus approaching full operation. Access is given to the wide, scarce-occupied territory of the North. To make the expenditure of public moneys profitable, inducement must be given for a great inflow of population so that the land may be developed to the high stage of productivity of which experiment has shown it capable. Time-table and Competition.

Through passenger traffic should be an important item in the railway's earnings if a service is arranged which will compete with the shorter route by sea. For business men the latter service offers a full day in Whangarei or Auckland for the expenditure of 34 hours away from either centre, travelling time being spent at night in sleep. Using the overland loute means the expenditure of four full days, two bei-nsr spent in 'travelling. To cater for the business man the new time-table should allow for a daily express Mther way, the cutting down" of travelling time by at least two hours. and arrival in either centre early enough in the afternoon tc allow the transaction of business.

The new schedule may also be expected to provide a better connection between Whangarei and Opua. At present travellers from Opua by rail arrive in Whangarei top late for the tri-weokly express to Auckland and must wait 38 hours for the next train. The time-table, however, while unmindful of tho railways it was framed to serve, delivers passengers at Oneralii Wharf within five minutes of the departure of the boat for Auckland. Train and boat thus provide a 15-hour service, Opua to Auckland, but on an unbroken line of railway tbe time required for the journey is 50 hours. The ending of this and other anomalies' on the North Auckland railways will be necessary if they, are to fulfil the expectations which prompted then.construction,