EXPRESS TIME-TABLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 13

EXPRESS TIME-TABLES.

PROPOSED ALTERATIONS.

MAIN TRUNK SERVICE*

< LATER TRAIN TO NORTH.

CONNECTION WITH LIMITED.

Tho afternoon Main Trunk express from Wellington and tho North Auckland express are concerned in important timetable alterations now under consideration by tho Railway Department and, if approved, are scheduled to come into operalion on June 1.

Departmental officials refuse to confirm or deny the contemplated alterations but it is known that it is intended, if possible, (o put tho ordinary Main Trunk express from Wellington behind the limited. Thus, instead of leaving Wellington at two o'clock in the afternoon and reaching Auckland at 6.30 next morning, the express will leave after the limited and arrive in Auckland shortly after mid-day. This will make the service to the North conform to that from Auckland to Wellington.

The change is said to bo actuated by the belief of the department that the express concerned would be a greater revenue producer by travelling through the King Country to Auckland in t.ho daylight. It is this change ■ that affects the North Auckland service. Under present conditions through passengers from the South can reach Auckland by the ordinary Main Trunk and continue their journey by the North Auckland express which leaves at 8.40 a.m. To preserve this connection it Is proposed to delay the departure of the North Auckland express until 10 a.m., the idea being that the connection can be maintained through the medium of the limited, which is timed to reach Auckland at 9.30 s.m. Since speeding up the North Auckland express to any extent is not contemplated in the new time-table the service will mean that the people of the North will bo anything up to an hour and twenty minutes later in reaching their homes. In recent years proposals for delaying the train to connect with the Limited have always been vigorously opposed from the far north. PROTESTS IN NOETH. f VIGOROUS OPPOSITION. EARLIER SERVICE DESIRED. " SETTLERS BEING PENALISED." [b - : telegraph.—own correspondent.] KAIKOHE, Thursday. The proposal of the Railway Department to delay the departure of the North Auckland express has caused consternation in the North where the demand has always been for an earlier and more speedy train so that settlers could reach their homes at a reasonable hour instead of the Jute hours which are now forced upon them. Concerted action is being arranged by representative bodies in most of the districts to resist the impending change and it is expected that as soon as the facts become known all bodies will join in a united protest.

Some surprise is expressed that the department has not seen fit to give those most intimately concerned —the users of the train—some inkling of what was intended, as it is understood that the change is to take place on June 1. It is realised that urgent action is necessary if the voice of the people is to he heard.

Opinions of Public Men. Leading public men from Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Rawene, Kohukohu, Okaihau and Kawakawa who have been spoken to so far state that the advantage of a direct connection from Wellington through a delay of the service to the North is a doubtful one. Some have gone so far as to say that the settlers are being asked to exchange the advantages they have now for very real disadvantages. Whangarei may not be so vitally affected as centres further north, but it is common knowledge that they are at one with their neighbours in demanding a faster service. If the train left Auckland at 8 a.m. and reached Whangarei by 1 p.m. travellers from the adjacent districts would be able to reach home much earlier and the town would enjoy the prospect of having an afternoon mail delivery in the residential districts. At present letters from Auckland aro not delivered to residents until the following day. From Whangarei the express goes on to Opua, where it is due at 5.50 p.m. Under the new time-table Opua would not be reached until 7.10 and there would be the launch journey to Russell after that. A branch train connects with the express at Otiria and runs through to Okaihau, passing through Kaikohe at 6.15 p.m. Many representations that this connection could be improved have been made without avail and it appears that now the service is to be worse than before. Residents Beyond Kailhead. More deeply concerned arc the people who live beyond the railhead and who have to make long motor trips after they leave the train. These are the settlers in the Ilokianga and Mangonui counties nnd ports of the Bay of Islands County. The service cars do not now reach Kaitaia until about nine o'clock and later in the jpi'inter. Speaking at Kaitaia on the subject Mr. Allan Bell said that when changes had been mooted in the past protest had been made against any delay and an earlier service asked for. '"I know tho North will fight this move to the last ditch," he paid. "It is unfair to ask women and children to put up with a later service." "I should say that not more than one in 100 would sacrifice the present service for the connection with tho limited from Wellington," said Mr. T. Guerin, chairman of the Kaikohe Town Board, when stating that Kaikohe was ready to join with other centres in opposition to the proposed change. "It seems as if tho settlers are to bo penalised for a few people who want a direct service between Wellington and North Auckland," said Mr. A. R. Wigmore, president of the Okaihau Chamber of Commerce. These are a few of the opinions which have been expressed and many similar fMies could be quoted. It was also suggested that if the Railway Department wished to drive its passenger traffic in the north to the motor services it could not, do it nioro easily than by delaying the express.