SUMMER TRAIN SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20111, 23 November 1928, Page 12

SUMMER TRAIN SERVICES.

Announcement of the summer railway time-table, with its tempi rary restoration of the daylight limited express, again , emphasises a direction in which the department shows persistent blindness to its own interests. There is still no variation of the time-table by which the Rotorua express leaves Auckland when it should have been almost two hours on the way, and discards any claim it may have to be called an express by the time the journey has been about half completed. Too late in starting, too slow in travelling, and hampered by far too many stops, especially after Frankton; these are the glaring defects of the service to Rotorua as supplied by the Railway Department. As long as they remain in it, travellers, especially those with but little time at their disposal, are being positively invited to patronise the motor services which run in competition with the railways. Morning hours which can be put to no practical use arc spent in Auckland. More time than should be has to bo spent on the train once it is started. With Rotorua reached, so little of the day is left that nothing can be done with it by those who wish to remain in Rotorua, while passengers for any further destinations have to spend the night there or travel on in the darkness. An express train leaving Auckland at 8.30 a.m. and reaching Rotorua by 2.30 p.m. would leave the traveller with a useful part of the day to use as he wished. If a tourist and sightseer, especially with but a day or two at his disposal, he would have a chance to find his bearings and begin to utilise his time to the best advantage. If a traveller beyond the town—and Rotorua is not by any means only a terminal — he could continue his journey by daylight. . The advance of the clock half an hour could be given real value if the train time-table was only altered to eliminate the waste of precious hours now made compulsory. Instead of seeing these possibilities, the department clings to its antiquated schedule with its manifest absurdities, helping its rivals and injuring its own business.