EAST COAST RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20172, 5 February 1929, Page 8

EAST COAST RAILWAY.

When, some time before the last election, the soundness of various railway projects was actively discussed, a critic of the public works policy suggested that the East Coast lino "would not pay for axle grease." Those who knew anything of this project, and of the district it would serve, could only conclude that his knowledge of geography was deficient, that he was confusing the East Coast lino with some other piece of railway construction. To those who had urged its claims during the long years it suffered neglect, the railway to connect the Bay of Plenty with the main North Island system always appeared the most promising railway venture in sight, and the most important piece of developmental work the Public Works Department could undertake. They felt that it would be justified, speedily and abundantly, by results once it was completed. It is less than a year since the first through train ran from Auckland to Tauranga, and thus brought the Bay of Plenty, as far eastward as Taneatua, into direct rail connection with Auckland and the rest of the province. Already the Railway Department has found the demands of traffic making alterations of the time-table and the provision of more stock trains necessary., It can be taken for granted that the first schedules of goods and passenger services were tentative; probably they were based on conservative estimates of the business to be done. Whether that be so or not, it is both encouraging and gratifying to find that in so comparatively short a time extensions have had to be made. The East Coast is justifying the provision of proper communications. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of its resources and potentialities will have faith in its power to continue the process. These are difficult days for railway operation, but there are redeeming features in the outlook. The East Coast lino furnishes one. The next development to be desired is that the increase in business should continue until the pressure of traffic makes imperative that very desirable shortening of the route which can be achieved by constructing the PaeroaPokeno loop.