TRAIN SERVICES

Otago Witness, Issue 4042, 1 September 1931, Page 7

TRAIN SERVICES

EFFECT OF ECONOMIES CONSIDERABLE MILEAGE REDUCTION. We were able during the year, says the General Manager of Railways (Mr H. H. Sterling) in his annual report, to bring to finality our investigation into and review of the train services. A special investigation was made into the working of each branch line and each zone of our main lines throughout the Dominion, with the object of reducing the operating expenditure to the lowest limits consistent with giving an adequate service to the community, and also with the object of taking remedial measures where necessary and practicable to meet the changing conditions of our business arising out of competition and other circumstances. The traffic for the year ended March 31, 1930, had constituted a record for our railway system, and, apart from other considerations, the rapid falling-off in the traffic and revenue during the year ended March 31, 1931, owing to the trade depression and financial stress throughout the country, necessitated a complete and rapid readjustment of our services to permit of a reduction in our operating expenditure to meet the falling revenue. The detailed information that had been obtained in connection with the special investigation referred to above enabled us to make the review on a sound basis of ascertained and correlated facts, and to bring the necessary economy’ measures into operation promptly anil with a minimum of inconvenience to our clients. On the transportation side the aim was to reduce train-mileage by approximately 750,000 train-miles below the previous year’s figures to permit of substantial economies in locomotive and

traffic transportation costs, while at the same time conserving the revenue as much as possible. this reduction in train-mileage and operating costs was duly attained, the total saving In revenue train-miles for the year being 740,145, and in departmental train-miles 23,366, making a total reduction of 76.3,511 train miles. On the expenditure side the working-expenses were reduced by’ £240,900. The train-mileage for the year, exclusive of shunting and departmental mileage, was 11,281,898, compared with 12,022,043 for the previous year, a decrease of 740,145 miles. Of the total train-milage run 4,874,650 were passenger-miles and 6,407,248 were goods-miles, a decrease of 163,125 and 577,020 respectively as compared with the previous year.