EARLY REPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27346, 23 March 1950, Page 6

EARLY REPORT

Electrification! Of Railways TRAFFIC DENSITY STRESSED The general manager of the New Zealand Railways, Mr F. W. Aickin, was preparing a report on the electrification of railways in New Zealand, and this would be ready in a few weeks’ time, said the Minister of Railways, Mr Goosman, to a deputation from the Otago Expansion League yesterday morning. The report would incorporate suggestions on design which Mr Aickin had considered as a result of his recent visit to the United Kingdom. Mr Goosman said he believed that the lines which had reached “ saturation point” for traffic would be considered first for electrification. This was purely a matter of economies. “Some of the lines in the North Island are carrying very heavy traffic,” the Minister said. “The AucklandWellington line itself carries more than the whole of the traffic in the South Island. Electrification was desirable, he added, because a 50-ton engine could pull as much as a 120-ton steam engine, and the whole matter was under review.

Speaking for the Expansion League, Mr G. J. Errington urged the early electricfication of the railways in the south. He said that this would eliminate heavy haulageproblems over the hills of Dunedin. The electricity problems would be overcome first in the Otago-Southland area by the completion of the Roxburgh Gorge scheme, and it was recognised that the days of cheap coal were a thing of the past. Preparations for the electrification of the railways should be made early, and from that point of view the completion of the Sawyers’ Bay tunnel should be carried out. It was desirable that the tunnel should be ready when the power was available.