TROOP-TRAIN DELAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25563, 16 June 1944, Page 2

TROOP-TRAIN DELAYS

PROTEST BY R.S.A. BETTER TIME TABLE URGED The reported delays in the running schedule of trains conveying drafts of returning servicemen were severely commented upon at a meeting of the executive committee of the Dunedin R.S.A. last night. It was decided that a deputation should wait on the district traffic manager of the Railways Department to discuss the possibility of a closer adherence to the scheduled time tables. “ Yesterday morning a train conveying a draft of men from the Pacific was scheduled to reach Dunedin at 5.34 a.m., but it did not arrive until after 7 o'clock,” the president of the association, Mr D. Forsyth, said. “A large number of people, including elderly folk and residents who had risen early to come in from the outskirts of the city, waited for nearly two hours for the train to arrive. It is not everyone who has a telephone and can thus find out if there is any alteration in the schedule. “This sort of thing has been going on for nearly two years, and I think it is time that experience should have made it possible to announce a schedule that can reasonably be adhered to,” Mr Forsyth added. “It seems to me that the Railways Department and (or) the Army Department should now be able to devise a more satisfactory schedule, allowing for the special requirements of such trains.” .

Mr W. K. Cameron said that the delays were particularly burdensome to the volunteer workers who had' to spend so much time waiting at the Railway Station for trains that were behind schedule. They were called out to attend trains at all hours, he said, and should, therefore, not be obliged to spend.so much time in unnecessary waiting. Other instances of delays were given l by members of the committee and it was decided to discuss the matter with the Railways Department.