SERIOUS DISLOCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23223, 22 June 1937, Page 10

SERIOUS DISLOCATION

WELLINGTON RAILWAY STATION A SCENE OF CONFUSION MANY TRAINS DELAYED (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 21. Nearly 70 trains working on time tables between 4 p.m. and midnight were involved in ,a serious disorganisation of the railway service operating from the new Wellington station to-day. As this was the first general working day since the official opening on Saturday, the rearranged yard and platform accommodation was given its initial test. Apart from minor delays of a few minutes, in which two or three trains were affected, the time tables were satisfactorily maintained throughout the morning and early afternoon. From about 4 o’clock, however, when the evening rush developed on the suburban lines, the utmost confusion arose. It went from bad to worse from 5 o’clock until the time for the departure of the limited at 7.15, when the disorder reached its climax. So tangled were the time tables that the departure of the limited was delayed by 65 minutes. The Wellington-Palmerston North train, which ordinarily leaves at 5.40 p.m., was also held at the station for more than an hour. All the suburban schedules on the Hutt-Manawatu lines were thrown out of their normal running. One train on the Hutt station was cancelled when its predecessor on the same service overlapped its time of departure at 9 p.m. Five of the nine platforms were congested with standing trains unable to move because, it was stated of difficulties over the shunting arrangements. Two suburban trains were banked end to end, and at one stage seven locomotives were held in a kind of cul-de-sac, helpless to move the cars until they could be freed by the gradual elimination of the herded trains as engines became available from the yards. Some of the trains had been there as long as an hour and a-half.

The delay originated with an engine that should have been out of the shed earlier than it was. The district traffic manager (Mr W. Schierning) said to-night that “ as it was the first night this threw things out of gear. There are one or two details we hope to improve on to-morrow. It has to be remembered that the opening of a new station is a pretty big undertaking. This morning things went remarkably well, but, unfortunately, tonight this hitch occurred. Such happenings are usually inseparable from the opening of a new station.”

Asked whether to-night’s experience had revealed any defect in the lay-out of the tracks and whether any change would have to be made, Mr Schierning said there was no fault in the lay-out and no change would be necessary. “It is simply that the men are not yet familiar with the new way of working,” he added. “ When they get into the work and become familiar with the various movements that have to be made all will be well.”