EAST COAST MAIN TRUNK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12586, 17 October 1911, Page 5

EAST COAST MAIN TRUNK

PROGRESS OF THE WORK

NEW SECTIONS AUTHORISED

£165,000 TO BE VOTED

In,, the .Piiblic. Works , ; Statement the Ministor made the fbTlo'wing reference to the East Coast line :—

East Coast Main Trunk : In my last, year's Statement I mentioned that a

commencement had been made with a section of this railway from Manganui • Bluff (Tauranga) to Te Puke. The formation works on this section are now nearly finished, railing the line has been beguh', and a locomotive "and ballast waggons have been sent to Tauranga for use m ballasting the line. An extension of the line from Te Puke to Paengaroa was authorised last year, and this section is now being surveyed. As the construction Avorks will be of an easy character, it will not take very long tocomplete the formation, and it is consequenfly desirable to have a further section authorised during the present session, and provision for this will be made m the Railway Authorisation Bill. It is also proposed to put m hand a section of the line between Waihi and Tauranga, namely, from Waihi to Athenree.i also. a westerly extension of the line already m course 6f construction near Tauranga as far as the right bank of the Wairoa river, a length of about eight miles. Provision for these extensions will be made m the Authorisation Bill. On the Gisborne-Motu division of- the railway a very large amount of work has been done. I mentioned last year that ballast trains were- being run as far as the Otoko viaduct, but that they could not proceed beyond that point pending the completion of that structure. To enable railway laying to be proceeded with, a cable* way was constructed across the Otoko Gorge, and by this means a locomotive was transported to the farther side of the river and platelaying carried on for an additional ifour miles and a half. , The viaduct is now nearing completion, and as soon as it is -available for traffic ballasting can proceed for a considerable distance ahead. A very large amount of work has been done on the Rakauroa and Matawai sec-tions,-and the formation now extends consideraby beyond the summit at 41 miles, namely, as far as the 43-mile peg. I mentioned last session that the expenditure during the previous financial year had been by far the largest on this line since the works were started, but during last year the amount was even larger. In the Railways Authorisation .Bill; 1910, provision was made for the construction of a section of the^ line from Gisborne towards Napier, and since its authorisation a considerable amount of survey- has been done, and during the present year it is proposed to put formation work m hand. It is intended this year to ask the House to authorise a section of the line from Napier toWds, Gisborne,* and m anticipation of this being approved a surveyor has been sent to undertake the location of the nrst section.

The expenditure on the different divisions of the East Coast Main Trunk railway during last financial year was as under :-— 1 auranga - Paengaroa, £15,292 : Gisborne-Motu, £68,668 ; Napier-Gis-boriie, £131; total, £84,091. For the current year the following votes are proposed : Waihi-Tauranga, £15,000; Tau-ranga-Paengaroa, £30,000 ; GisborneMotu £85,000; Napier-Gisborne, north end £15,000, south end £20,000; total, £165,000. . .