RAIL WASHOUT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23431, 22 August 1939, Page 8

RAIL WASHOUT

MAIN TRUNK LINE TRACK IN MID-AIR BE PA JDS A LONG TASK SERVICES DISLOCATED [IIY TET.EGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] TE KUITI, Monday A largo washout occurred at about 11 a.m. to-day on tho Main Trunk line five miles south of To Kuiti, and all through railway traffic has been suspended. Latest advise is that trains cannot be expected to negotiate the area before mid-day to-morrow. Iho last train to pass was a mixed goods train arriving from Taumarunui at Te Kuiti at about 10 o'clock this morning. Another train which left le Kuiti for the south not long after was stopped, as the sagging of the rails discovered by permanent way maintenance men indicated that a large filling was moving. Since then a large washout about two chains long and I2ft. deep has revealed itself, causing a deep gap in the fern and rubbish bounding the railway track. Cause of Subsidence The cause of the subsidence was easily seen. Owing to a culvert becoming blocked a deep lake had formed in a pocket slightly to the south of tho filling. Water from this percolated through the filling until the whole was saturated, and with the pressure of the water behind it suddenly gave way, leaving two chains of rails suspended in mid-air. Over 50 men were working this afternoon endeavouring to make the line safe. By this evening the slip was dug away to form a solid base for the tall piles of, sleepers stacked horizontally to form what the men on the job called "pigsties." Six or seven of these "pigsties" will form a temporary support for the sagging lino, which, as night fell, was still curving deeply to the centre, but was slowly being built up. Lake's Depth Increasing Another large gang of men was engaged in dealing with the cause of the trouble, replacing tho culvert which had become blocked. As the filling at this point, about a chain south of the slip, was a deep one, this task alone will bo a considerable one and it seems unlikely that the line can be made safe until tho pressuro of water is relieved. Even as night fell it was reported that tho level of the lako was rising at the rate of an inch an hour. A work train with full equipment is on the job and men are being engaged from over a Wide area. The engineer in charge was of the opinion that the earliest possible time to get trains through would be mid-day to-morrow. Until then passengers will have to be transhipped. As there is a deep gully on each side of tho line at the scene of tho washout, it is fortunate that the subsidence was discovered before tho expresses went through. The washout is on a fairly winding section of tho line and from the north there is only very limited visibility.