EAST COAST LINE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 12

EAST COAST LINE

IMPRESSIVE ACTIVITY OVER 900 MEN EMPLOYED PROGRESS OF CONSTRUCTION [»V TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] GISBORNE, Wednesday With a total staffing of over 900 men, the railway camps on the northern section of tho East Coast railway route present to-day scenes of action more impressive than those furnished in 1930, when the Government of that day was providing funds and material for the lino on a scale which gave no hint of any sudden stoppage. The construction programme is getting into its stride now that the initial problems of accommodation and assembly of tools and necessary materials have been disposed of. The main efforts of the engineers in charge of construction have been concentrated up to tho present upon tho opening up of the tunnel jobs on the route between Waikokopu and Gisborne. Those, with the Molialui Viaduct and tho Waipaoa River bridge, comprise the key points of tho whole line. The Mohnka Viaduct, tho biggest structure of its kind in tho Southern Hemisphere, will be ready for commission in 18 months, or perhaps less, and the Waipaoa River bridge should be ready for use well inside 12 months. Tho major tunnelling jobs, however, will absorb tho chief attention of the engineers for from two to two and a-lialf years, perhaps even longer. Up to the present, satisfactory progress has been shown in opening up tho work leading to tho tunnel faces, and the department is now in a position to press ahead with the actual largescale tunnelling as soon as the necessary plant and material can be assembled. On tho Waikokopu-Kopuawhara end of the section there are about 420 men employed, and a tremendous amount of preparatory work has been accomplished. Piers for two bridges are being constructed in tho Kopuawhara Stream, and further work is proceeding in the diversion of the stream itself from too close proximity to the line of the railway at certain points. In the five camps administered from the headquarters at Bartlett's on the northern end of the sector there are 520 employees of the department.