BROKEN HILL RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19806, 29 November 1927, Page 9

BROKEN HILL RAILWAY.

" IT WILL NEVER PAY." PROMINENT OFFICIAL'S OPINION. "It will never pay for axle grease." This remarkable statement was made recently by a leading railway official concerning the new Sydney-Broken Hill railway service. The officer is well qualified to speak on the matter, having been closely associated with the construction of the line, and having passed over tho arid and barren country that tho line serves for about 300 miles more often than anyone in tho service. At no time, tho official said, could ho discern th* justification for such a huge outlay from a business point of view, though be realised its advantages in the matter of defence, The lino would be the greatest failure ever known in Australia. On the train's second trip to Broken Hill there were only 13 passengers. The crow of the train included a chef and five waiters. On the first trip, he said, 133 passengers disentrained at Broken Hill, but the bulk of them comprised railway officials, who undertook the long trip because of :ts historic character. Mr. E. M. Horsington, M.L.A., and exMinister for Lands, speaking on the same subject, said:—"The iine will in time prove itself to bo the greatest developmental and cross-country line in Australia, and, I hope, will be an important link in the transcontinental line between East and West Australia."