EAST COAST RAILWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22564, 31 October 1936, Page 14

EAST COAST RAILWAY

GOOD PROGRESS MADE WORK ON MOHAKA VIADUCT [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN* CORRESPONDENT"] HASTINGS, Friday So much progress has been made on the Napier-Wairoa section of the east coast railway that a large section of the line is in full working order. The balance is being pushed steadily toward completion. The Railway Department is now operating a regular freight service between Napier and Putorino, the train making the return trip each Saturday.

A remarkable transformation is being effected at the site of the Mohaka' viaduct in• the hands of a gang of 50 specially qualified workmen, huge masses of steel and wire are being moulded into a gigantic structure which will bo the virtual key to the raihVay between Napier and Wairoa. Two legs of the viaduct have been completed up to rail level and one of the largest towers in the structure is beginning to rear its head from the bed of the Mohaka River.

About 150 men are working on the line between Napier and the Maungaturanga viaduct. This total includes the men at the Mohaka viaduct. The majority are engaged on plate-laying and reconstruction, with which encouraging progress is being made. Two platelayers' cottages have been removed from Tutira and re-erected at Mohaka and are being occupied by staff officers. The clearing of slips, and destruction of weeds and other growth which years of idleness have permitted to spring up, and formation of the track, is being advanced with iill despatch. Between Waikaro and Mohaka there are about seven miles over which the track actually requires to be formed, but for the most part attention is occupied with work of restoration.