TRAIN SERVICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19503, 11 June 1925, Page 13

TRAIN SERVICES

SPEEDING-UP POLICY. LEVIN'S GRIEVANCE. (Per United Press Association.) LEVIN, June 10. The Prime Minister attended a crowded meeting ufc Levin to-night to protest against the Railway Department’s action in excluding Levin from the list of stopping places for the express trains—a privilege enjoyed for the post 20 years. The Mayors of Levin and Foxton, the Chamber of Commerce, and local bodies representatives put. their views before Mi' Coates, asserting that no other town of the same size in the dominion was being so unjustly treated, and that the country people wore being penalised in the interests of through passengers. In replv Mr Coates said the department was out to consider the interests of the people as a whole and the expresses were primarily for Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki. He offered to allow one up express to Napier to atop at Levin, and also to speed up the evening train to Wellington. He thought that the mail services which had been interefered with by the. cut, could be improved. Replying to the suggestion that the expresses could bo speeded up to enable a stop to bo made at Levin, the Minister said ho felt desperately nervous about asking the department to exceed the safety factor agreed on by the department’s experts. It only wanted one big accident to happen and the railways would bo pinned down to a certain mileage per hour. He felt a personal responsibility in the matter. “Please don’t bring in the political stunt,” said the Minister to an interjector who suggested a resort to political action. “It is not worth twopence as far as I am concerned. It makes my blood boil to think anybody should ‘think such arguments can weigh with the Minister of with the Railway Board.”—(Applause.)