ENGINEERING FEAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23328, 21 October 1937, Page 16

ENGINEERING FEAT

SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK LINE CUTTING OF HAWKESWOOD HILL USE OF MODERN APPLIANCES (From Our Parliamentary Reporter • WELLINGTON, Oct. 20. A notable record is claimed by the Public Works Department in the completion of the huge Hawkeswood cutting on the South Island Main Trunk line. The department considers that in cutting through the Hawkeswood Hill a record has been established in New Zealand, if not in Australia,, in both time and cost. In an interview to-night the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple) described the cutting as the most spectacular work on the construction of the southern end of the line. The cutting is 53 chains in length, with a maximum depth of 63 feet, and the total quantity of material removed was 310,000 cubic yards. When confronted with the problem of negotiating this huge saddle the engineers of the department originally intended to construct a tunnel through it. It was estimated that such a job would cost £67,500 and would have taken at least 15 months to complete provided special measures were adopted to accelerate the process. It was decided as an alternative to make an open cut with the use of modern excavation plant, when it became evident that the work could be completed in the same time as a tunnel and at an estimated saving of £IB.OOO. Mr Semple pointed out that the cutting, with the exception of some clean-ing-up, had been completed within 12 months from when the operations were resumed on it, and the cost when all the charges came to hand would be £44,000, including £9OOO for depreciation of plant and buildings. Not only had the final cost been £SOOO less than the estimated cost, but work had been carried out in two months’ less time than was estimated. The Minister said that in one fourweekly period on the job the huge quantity of 43,780 cubic yards of material was shifted by the use of the most modern mechanical appliances. At the peak of operations 126 men were employed. The expedition with which the cutting was completed, Mr Semple said, was the more remarkable when it was remembered that most of the plant units were hitherto unknown in New Zealand, and the operators had to be trained to manipulate their machines during the progress of the work. The material shifted was mostly clay, and there were times when wet weather made the scene of operations almost unworkable. The enthusiastic cooperation of the workers, however, had made it possible to have some progress even in the worst weather.

“ Long after the Hawkeswood cutting is a commonplace to travellers,” Mr Semple added, “it will remain a monument to the ability of the officers and men through whose co-operation and co-ordinated effort it took its place as a contribution to New Zealand’s progress in modern civil engineering.”