RAILWAY TO THE NORTH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 10

RAILWAY TO THE NORTH

POSSIBLE DEVIATION. MORNINGSIDE TO KUMEU. TRIAL SURVEY BEING MADE. SAVING IN DISTANCE CLAIMED. The possibilities of a more direct railway route between Morningsido and Kumeu have been under investigation by the Government and for the past month a party of Public Works Department surveyors has been at work in the area. The project is no new idea to Auckland residents who have taken an interest in district railway development and improvement. Similar schemes have been tho subject of several Parliamentary petitions. Tho main north line from Auckland at present takes a wide sweep westward from Morningside, away from the coastline, through Avondale, New Lynn, Henderson, Swanson ami Waitakere, to Kumeu. The distance from Morningside to Kumeu is about 20 miles an.) there are slow trains running to Kumeu as a terminus and occupying an hour on the journey. The route now being paid attention by tho survey party would be via To At;.tu and would he in almost a direct lino between Morningside and Kumeu, considerably shortening the distance, but to what extent, it is difficult to say, since even Ihe trial survey has not yet been completed. Tho Whau would bo crossed about three miles below Avondale and the Henderson Creek would be bridged nearer the sea than at present. A member of the Northern Suburban Railways League, in discussing the scheme last evening, recalled that the shortening of the line in a similar fashion had been a popular agitation about 10 years ago. It had been hoped at the time that the execution of such a project might lead to the construction of a new combined railway and traffic bridge across the Whau at a more convenient point than the site of the present structure. In this case the distance from Auckland to Hobsonville, in his opinion, would be shortened by at least four miles—a more important consideration than ever, since Hobsonviile's development as an air base. The railway 'loute from Morningside to Kumeu should be shortened by about nine miles and a steep grade eliminated. Any such new line would be a material advantage to railway transport north from Auckland whether or not the AucklandMorningside tunnel were constructed, the member continued. In his opinion however, the straightening of the line would particularly enhance the value of the cityMorningside tunnel, and, indeed, it was what was required to make the "underground" an economic proposition.