THE RAILWAYS AND COUNTRY RESIDENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27296, 24 January 1950, Page 6

THE RAILWAYS AND COUNTRY RESIDENTS

Sir, —Over a period of more than 12 months I have taken particular notice of the railways services offering for the convenience of the city dweller. Limited expresses thrice weekly, ordinary expresses daily, night expresses, additional expresses and passenger trains at holiday times, Sunday excursions, race trains, even a cheap excursion as advertised to Warrington to see a whale. On the north line, if an express train has one carriage over the one-engine load, an extra engine is put on to assist. The writer has frequently seen two expresses each way, with one or two extra carriages hauled by the extra engine. The town traveller is not inconvenienced and changed fropi one train to another to save an engine. Consequently it boils down to one engine for 50 passengers. Now, we residents between Palmerston and Dunedin have the all-day service—i.e., one train leaving Palmerston at approximately 6.30 a.m., arriving Dunedin 9 a.m., returning from Dunedin 4.10 p.m., arriving Palmerston at approximately 7 p.m. Mothers with small families have to get their children up, dressed, fed and on the train before the average town adult is out of bed; then torture the children by dragging them round the town all day, arriving home with them, done to a frazzle, too tired even to eat a late tea and often too tired to sleep. As a war-time restriction, a fast passenger train from Oamaru, which arrived in Dunedin at 11 a.m., was cancelled. This train was a convenient train for the average country resident, and when this train was asked for again the excuse was shortage of coal. That excuse cannot exist now. Surely people travelling for necessity are entitled to consideration before pleasure travellers. The NZR Road Services cannot give an alternative means of transport through (a) overcrowding, and (b) the majority of children forced to travel by these means suffer from bus sickness owing to (a) above and the winding nature of the road.

Why should our wives and children have to stay at home because travelling conditions are intolerable. —I am. etc. Dad.

[The above letter was shown to Mr S. G. Howie, district traffic manager of railways, who had no comment to make.— Ed., ODT.I