THOSE TRAINS!

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 565, 1 December 1915, Page 11

THOSE TRAINS!

HARBOUR BOARD COMPLAINTS For a long, long time the Lyttelton Harbour Board has been trying to get the Railways Department to provide direct railway communication with No. 2 jetty at the port, at which jetty the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry boats are berthed. At this morning's meeting of the board a letter was read, in which -the General Manager of Eailways wrote "that a direct connection r to No. 2 jetty was not practicable, but the proposed new lay-out of the yard would avoid the locking •of as many points as at present. The chairman (Mr M. J. Miller) suggested that the letter should be "received," and that the secretary should keep in touch with the Railway Department on the matter. He remarked that the secretary had a proposal to make, when the proper time arrived, : which would make direet connection possible. The chairman's suggestion, however, was not sufficient for other members of the board, who raised other matters connected with the train service connecting Ghristchurch with the ferry boats. Dr Thacker dwelt upon the great discomforts attached to the service, and condemned what he termed the vicious handling of ihe ferry trains. He quoted an experience he had\n a recent Sun : day, when 36 minutes elapsed between his arrival at Lyttelton and the time the train reached the tunnel. After proceeding into the tunnel for a period of three minutes, the train backed out again, and waited for four minutes for the engines to'get its breath for a fresh attempt. Then it took over eight minutes to get through the tunnel, and the train arrived' at Ghristchurch an hour and six minutes from the time that the boat was tied up at the wharf. Going down with the less than 14 minutes elapsed between leaving Christchurch and reaching the boat. Dr Thacker added that the train arrangements were a disgrace to civilisation.

Mr J. J. Dougall expressed the opinion that the ferry train was a disgrace to the port. , Mr A. Kaye admitted that at times the service ,was bad, but said that his general experience was that the service was well conducted.

Mr H. Friedlander spoke of the inconvenience of inward passengers having to change trains at Christchurch if they were going further south. He thought that some carriages could be transferred from the ferry train to the express, so that passengers from the south would not have to shift themselves and their luggage. Mr DoUgall remarked that the carriages used in the ferry train would be a disgrace to a second-hand dealer. Dr Thacker said that the board was like a voice crying in a wilderness. Fop seven years it had been crying out for improvements to the service. After further discussion, in which it was found that the board's secretaryengineer is not satisfied that direct communication with the present ferry jetty is practicable, and that his proposal involves the building of a new wha*f, at a cost of about £50,000, when the time is ripe, the board agreed to inform the General Manager of Bailways that it

still lias hopes of direct connection with the fefry boats, and to draw his attention to the shortcomings of the service in other directions.