RIMUTAKA DEVIATION

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11664, 31 October 1923, Page 7

RIMUTAKA DEVIATION

ENGINEER’S ESTIMATE SCHEME BEFORE AIASTERTON CHAAIBER OF COMMERCE. PRACTICALLY NO CLIMB SAVED. (By Telegraph—Special “Times.”) AIASTERTON, October 30. At the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon, Mr C. IS. Daniell, president, referred to tho Rimutaka deviation. He said that the difficulties that the engineers have had to face in locating a new line of railway over the Rimutakas. has been first, to find the lowest point to cross the range with as little tunnelling as practicable, consistent with fairly easy .grades. Secondly, to use as much of the existing line as possible, and thirdly, to serve the western side of Lower Wairarnpa, witii more particular reference to Featherston, which has lie come the railway centre for the Lower Valley. Fallowing on its' being tho site of the first township on entering tiie valley by the first and only coach route, it was to serve this particular point that the present railway route was ohoceii, and the latest report quite eandidb' states that this fact influenced the inquiry. Alartinborough, in turn, assumes that only through Feathcrston can their district he best connected with the existing line. The original lay-out of the line make© Woodsidc an important engineering point, this being 300 feet above sea level, while to reach Cross Creek the present line runs down to within about 10 feet of sea level and then climbs again to Cross Creek, which is still 30 feet below "Woodside If tho altitude of Woodside could be utilised and the junction accepted as a meeting point lor traffic from Martinborough, and the East Co art joining tho traffic from the north, the engineer’s work would bo simplified. A CURIOUS FACT.

A curious fact comes out in the s?tucl> of the levels of the new low-level Jong tunnel proposal, which shows that- in hauling from Wellington to Wood side j very little ctinih is saved. That is the [altitude of the tunnel is 496 feet, followed by a dip near Pigeon Bttsh, and ; another* climb of 290 feet, giving 786 feet, while the altitude of the engineers, reporting in 1899, were severI ally 897 feet, 9?7 feet, and 979 feet, thus showing a difference of less than 200 feet in any of the scheme*. OTHER TUNNELS COMPARED. The length of the tunnel, proposed by the engineers for the deviation of the Rimutaka Railway, is practically the same length as that recently opened between the East and West Coast of the South Island. The contractors began to work on the Otira Tunnel in 1907, worked it for five years, then failed, and our Public Works Department have spent ton yean* in completing the tunnel. When nearing completion writers described it as the seventh longest tunnel in the world, the longest in the British Empire, a work of Imperial importance built at great cost, etc., and now we are asked to believe that to repeat this triumph of engineering is* a way to get across or through the Rimutakas. The Lyttelton Tunnel, notorious for its srook* nuisance, is onethird the length of the proposed Rimutaka Tunnel, but- w-o- are tolcl that being lees steep electrification would not be necessarv, and yet it would be a social benefit. We are further told that there would be no bridges in the tunnel, and that the line would be protected against all the elements—either sun, wind, frost, or rain—no fences to keep up, and no weeding to be done in the tunnel. That is all in the report submitted to Parliament. (Lau'ghter.) The Otira Tunnel is 5 miles . 554 yards- long, and the proposed Rimut-aka Tunnel is variously stated as 5 miles 1056 yards and 5 milos. 396 yards in length. DIFFERENCE IN ESTIMATES.

When the engineers reported in 1899 on the propOEal to build the railway deviation by the coach road route over the Rimutaka Range the estimate was for 23i mißs. at a cost of £460,000. This works out at £19,784 per milo, or £248 per chain. The engineers reporting on tiie same route in i 923 state that 15'miles 35 chains will cost £1.400,000, or £39,360 per mile, or £lll7 per chain. The estimated cost of making 22-1 miles of railway through the Tauherenikau route in 1899 was £325.000. or £lßl per chain. This included 111 chains of tunnel. Tho estimated cost of making the railway by the same route in 1923, but reduced bv some five miles in length and including tunnels of 2$ miles in lerigth, w £1.200,000, or. say, £B4l per chain, or £67,000 per mile. The average cost of building and equipping all railways in New Zealand, according to recent returns, was £12,084 per mile. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The following officers were elected: —- President, Air C. E. Daniells; vicepresident, Mr D. Ogilvy; council, Messrs D. M. Graham, J. Oa6elb©ng, H. H. Daniell, H. P. Hugo, J. B. Keith, W\ G. Lamb, H. E. Pither. G. H. Soholefield, T. F. Watson, E. H. Waddington, F. Whitton, A. Evans, T. Evans, O. F. Strouts, and J. C. Cooper; auditor, Mr W. H. James.