RAILWAY PROGRESS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19827, 3 January 1939, Page 6

RAILWAY PROGRESS

IMPROVEMENTS IN 1938 REVIEW BY MINISTER (Tor Proas Association.) AUCKLAND, thia day. "There is much solid evidence that the year 1938 has been one of definite progress by the Railway Department" said the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, who arrived at Auckland last evening. He indicated there would be still greater activity in all departments of the railway service in 1939, mentioning particularly the preparations for the centennial exhibition and the Dominion-wide celebrations.

Among the achievements .in 10'ifi had been the increased scales of wages for men of the second division and the reclassification of those in the clerical and higher grades-. Stall' dwellings had been renovated and modernised and new dwellings had been erected in localities where a housing shortage was evident. The electrification of the Wolling-ton-Johnsonville line had been completed and, for the first, time in New Zealand a really modern suburban train had been provided. Other notable achievements included improved ventilation of trains, the provision of a new type of passenger ears, new features in lighting, decorations and furnishings, the installation of modern electric signals and communication apparatus, the duplication of tracks, the easement of grades and curves, and the strengthening of bridges.

Thirty-three goods and six road services hiid been acquired, the timetables of which had been adjusted and thus uneconomic overlapping had been eliminated.

Mr. Sullivan thanked the general manager, Mr. G. H. Mackley, the stab" and the public for their co-operation.