THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1929. THE NORTHERN OUTLET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20262, 23 May 1929, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1929. THE NORTHERN OUTLET.

The fate of the" new northern railway outlet for Auckland—the Morningside tunnel as it is usually called —is generally considered to be hanging in the balance. According to the programme of railway improvement works drawn up by the late Government, it was supposed to have been started in 1928. It did not prove possible to do this, but it was definitely promised that it would be begun this year. Now the Government and the railway authorities are considering the whole question afresh, and the general understanding is that the point at issue is whether the work will bo undertaken or abandoned. The present Government cannot be considered as necessarily bound by the promise of its predecessor in office. If it decides not to continue? the work, it cannot bo charged with having broken faith. But, and hero is the point to be emphasised, if the verdict is for abandonment, there should be produced sufficient definite evidence to prove the late Government to have been wrong, the new one to have the weight of facts and statistics on its side in correcting the error. There is on record a fair amount of data bearing on advantages and savings claimed as certain to follow construction of the new outlet. It may bo the estimates were drawn up in error; it may be circumstances have changed sufficiently to destroy the premises on which they were founded. If so the wide and eager public concerned in tho scheme should be given not merely general assurances that these things are so, but the word and the figure to demonstrate the facts. It is not a question affecting only Auckland city, as the Minister seemed to assume when he met a deputation advocating the work. So far as it can be localised at all, it is a provincial question. The true criterion by which it should be judged, however, is not as an Auckland issue, or a North Island issue, but as a proposition affecting the working railways. Let its fate be decided on those terms. The new northern outlet came into existence as an official proposition in 1924. The chief engineer and general manager of railways were called on to review the schedule of railway improvements authorised in 1914. Included was a plan to duplicate the northern line from Newmarket to New Lynn at an estimated cost of £300,000. They remarked that under conditions then existing the capacity of the present singletrack line, with its heavy grades, had been about reached. Improvement of the grades to any extent was not feasible. They therefore recommended the new outlet, the line to cross Beach Road from the station now being constructed, proceed by tunnel under the city, follow the route now generally known, and join the present line at Morningside. There would be a saving in distance of nearly half a mile, the heaviest grade would be 1 in 80., against 1 in 45 by the present route even with the grade easement plan carried out. The estimated saving in time was 15 minutes for every train run. The saving in working expenses was given as £12,000 a year, almost exactly sufficient to pay interest at 4 per cent, on the difference in cost between the original duplication plan, £300,000, and of the newly advocated tunnel scheme, £616,000. This was irrespective of any effect from electrifying the line, which it was stated would be essential if the tunnel were built, and would probably lead to the electrification of all the suburban lines. Whe|| the scheme had been actually authorised a new reason in support of it was furnished in the Fay-Raven report, which recommended that the Auckland railway station should be made a through, and not a terminal, station. To this end, the northern outlet would be absolutely essential, and that principle has been kept in view in the lay-out of the new station. This is, briefly and sketchily presented, the case for the new outlet. To justify its abandonment from the working railway aspect, it may perhaps be shown • that the present, northern route is adequate for the traffic it is called on to carry. If that can be proved, little more can be said. If not, it will be necessary to show there is some alternative method of relieving congestion and eliminating waste in time and loss in working costs which is preferable to the northern outlet via Morningside. The public is entitled to that at least. Apart from what the railway experts and technicians may say, there are certain factors governing the transport position as a whole which have an interesting bearing on the northern outlet. Much hinges on the question how far suburban traffic is considered important in railway prosperity. There is no centre in New Zealand where there is a greater suburban population to be moved than there is in Auckland. If the Railway Department is earnestly desirous of figuring in the consequent transport position, the northern outlet cannot bo lightly dismissed. The scheme provides for a station in the neighbourhood of the Town Hall. When the new main station in Beach Road is finished, this proposed Town Hall station stands as the only possible point close to the heart of the city where trains could be joined. It is an open question whether the Beach Road station, standing alone, will not handicap the railway in the contest for suburban passenger traffic, especially for the daily traveller. True, there will be a loop to connect it with the tramway system, but that will mean another faro and a change from one vehicle to another, both likely to be unpopular with the

travelling public. With the tunnel a' completed fact, and a station at the Town Hall available, with the suburban lines electrified, passen gers for the northern suburbs would be given conditions making railway travel more attractive than it has ever been before. If a through station at Beach Road means passengers for the southern suburbs could embark at the Town Hall, and go to their destinations without changing trains, the whole transport situation would be given a bias in favour of the train it has not had before. These are some of the outstanding issues affecting the northern outlet. None of them is contingent on the undoubted fact that a large body of opinion in Auckland favours its construction ; all are advanced as bearing on the claims of the scheme strictly from the working railway viewpoint. If they could be met and answered fully, or at least substantially, Auckland would be reduced to advocating the new outlet merely because it wants it. Until they are so met, Auckland is justified in continuing to advocate the outlet as a railway improvement of importance to Auckland, to the north, the province, and most weighty of all, to the cause of efficient railway operation.