RAILWAYS CONSTRUCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19413, 23 August 1926, Page 8

RAILWAYS CONSTRUCTION.

Fourteen sections of railway, totalling 286 miles, were under construction by the Public Works Department at April 1. A schedule attached to the Statement forecasts that within two years, seven sections, aggregating 171 miles, or three-fifths of the total, will have been completed and be v ready for transfer to the Railways Department. Expenditure upon unopened lines now stands at £5,791,223; the cost of the seven sections, including works to be done during the next two years, amounts to about £4,500,000, and when they have been handed over the department will have works in hand estimated to cost less than £5,000,000. The last figure is, of course,' subject to amendment in respect of any additional sections that may be , commenced in the interval. The outstanding feature of the programme marked for early completion is the railway from Waihi to Taneatua—101| miles of the East Coast Main Trunk line. 'The TaurangaTaneatua section of. 63 miles has, of course, carried traffic for years, and is actually the longest isolated section in the Dominion. Construction is proceeding over the whole length between Waihi and Tauranga, and upon its completion, a main trunk system will be added to the working railways. Other major works in the list are the Opunake branch, 23 miles, and the WaiotiraKirikopuni section, 14 miles, both of which are extensions of the main trunk .system. A third is the Waikokopu branch, 24$ miles, of the Gisborne-Napier railway, a line that has been built in isolation and will remain in that state until the gap between Wairoa and Eskdale has been closed. The latter is the largest work on the present list that will remain unfinished two years hence, the next being the Ohura-Okahu-kura section of 19 miles. The remainder of the schedule comprises seven short sections, including the deviation at Auckland, and all are extensions of lines under operation. One notable fact is that of the 286 miles under construction only 19 miles in three sections are in the South Island. So far as can be judged from the v Minister's statement, there is no present intention of beginning any new construction in the South Island , so that within a few years there will probably be no railway-building in progress south of Cook Strait. Indeed, if the views of the Minister of Public Works', expressed so frankly in his Statement, prevail with the Government, some of the lines which cannot pay their way will be in pro-, cess of scrapping*