NEW RAILWAY ENTRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17234, 14 April 1930, Page 7

NEW RAILWAY ENTRY

WILLOWS ROUTE ADOPTED ELIMINATING EXTEA HAULAGE LOWER MAINTENANCE COSTS (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Nearly live miles of haulage will be deducted from the railway between Gisborne and Napier by the adoption of the Willows route from Muriwni to Gisborue, which, after exhaustive investigation, has been decided upon by Cabinet. The announcement of the change in route was made by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, in an interview to-day. Mr. Ransom stated that when the first surveys were made for the coastal route it was intended to use a portion of the existing Ngatapa branch line for the entry ■to Gisborue, but in view of the fact that this would mean a circuitous route over the Poverty Bay flats and -would involve extra haulage on every trainload traversing the line, the alternative course of keeping closer to *he seafront in the vicinity of the Awapuni lagoon had been investigated, and permanent surveys made. The alternative route, the Minister added, would shorten the length of the raijway, as compared with the Patutahi route, by four miles 75 chains, although the length of new formation required is practically the same in both cases. The' formation on the direct route through the Willows settlement is very light, but a long bridge will be Tendered necessary, near the mouth of the Waipaoa River, and this wili mean a slight increase in the cost of the direct route. A careful investigation of the Willows route has been made by a special committee of the Railway Department, which recommended the adoption of this route, and although the cost will be greater than by the Patutahi route, the Public Works Department's officers have supported the recommendation, pointing out that in these days of severe competition between road and rail transport, the advantage of the shortest possible distance, from the railway point of view, is of the utmost importance, while in addition the cost of maintaining an extra, five miles of railway will be avoided in consequence" of the authorised change in the route. CONSIDERABLE SAVINGS. The change decided upon will be of considerable interest to future users of the railway, as the charges will be upon a lineage'basis, and the aggregate of the savings in freights every year will be substantial. Furthermore, it is of interest that the cost of upkeep and maintenance on a trunk line work out at between £350 and £4OO per mile per annum, and this means an additional saving to the railway authorities and, of course, to the country as a whole. The adoption of the new route bv Cabinet was preceded by surveys and calculations of costs which have been brought to a stage rendering an early start with the construction of the new entry. Prom detailed plans prepared for the Minister's consideration, your correspondent was able to ascertain that the new alignment commences to deviate from the original survey, which placed the junction with the existing railway near Patutahi, at a point south' of the Waipaoa River. This river will be crossed not far from its mouth, and as the waterway is tidal the bridge Avill be an important feature of the line. Working details of the structure have not yet been completed, but it is evident from the survey that its length will be at least seven chains. Having crossed the Waipaoa Kiver, the line will run through the Willows settlement*, on the inland side of the Awapuni lagoon, and it is intended to keep the level of the formation fairly low, ami provide ample culverting so as to reduce to a minimum the risk of floodwaters being banked up by the railway. A junction with the existing railway will be made at Northcote road, where there will be a level crossing. This point is a mile and a quarter from Gisborue, and the junction will be controlled from the Gisborne station. The improvement in mileage is apparent from a comparison of the old and now plans. From the point of the deviation from the old survey .south of Waipaoa River to Gisborne the distance on the new route is fight miles 30 chains, whereas if the old route had been followed the distance would have been 13 miles 26 chains. The total distance from Gisborne to Wairoa will be reduced to ;">!> miles, as .a result of the change in the route near Gisborne. DANGER FROM FLOODING MANUTUEJS SETTLERS' FEARS A point of particular local interest in connection with the new entry of the railway to Gisborne has been causing discussion among sellers of the Manutuke area, who in common with most of the residents on the Poverty Bay flats, have been aware of the possibility of a change from the original proposal to link up the main line with the existing Ngatapa branch. They have expressed the fear that the embankments rendered necessary by the change will intensify the danger of flooding of their properties in the case of a fresh in the Waipaoa river, and, indeed, may lead to the banking-tip of floodwaters to "an extent that will facilitate the breaking of the stopbanks erected in the neighborhood of Wae"reiiga-a-hika-, in which case the Makauri area will be inundated.

It was pointed out to a press representative that if the railway is to cross the Waiphoa river near the mouth the line will have to be cartied on embankments for a considerable distance on either side of the bridge site. The level of the bridge will have to be well clear of floodwater height, and this means that the approaches will have to be built up considerably above the level of the riverbanks and surrounding land. In the past this land has been subject to flooding in a greater or lesser degree during the periodical floods that have come down the Waipaoa. and the settlers in the vicinity are under the impression that if the escape of surface water is hampered by railway embankments the damage to their paddocks and pastures will be multiplied many times. The value of their land is affected at present by the liability to flooding, lifit as floodwater usually does not stay on their paddocks long enough to do much damage, the actual peril existing at present is not serious. Any influence which will retard the natural tendency of the land to clear itself of water, such as would be exerted by railway embankments, would not only affect the value of the land in the vicinity of Manutuke and

ill tlio lower portion of the Willows settlement, blit would have the further serious disadvantage, the settlers claim, of banking up tloodwaiers as far bank at Wacronga-a liika. On several occasions within recent years, the Waipaoa river has been flooded to a level within a few inches of the top of the stop-banks at Wae-renga-a-hika, where lies the danger point so far as a general inundation of the flats is concerned. In one instance, the flood lapped over the top of the banks in some places, and it would have needed very little increase in the level to bring an enormous volume of water sweeping over the Makauri area. From .the point of view of the settlers in Poverty Bay, the necessity of guarding against any further hindrance to the escape of floodwaters is paramount, and the “ample culvcrting'’ feature of the embankments mentioned in the message from Wellington published above will be subjected to the closest scrutiny by the farming community.