NIGHT TRAINS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 12

NIGHT TRAINS.

Theio will be general agreement with the remark at tho Taranaki Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday evening that tlie time is opportune to renew the application to the Railway Department for the inauguration of a night train service between New. Plymouth and Wellington. It was pointed out at the meeting that residents of Taranaki are seriously handicapped by having to spend two days in the train in order to pay a visit to tho Empire city even for the duration of an hour or two. Residents of Auckland district have no such handicap, nor those from Canterbury or Nelson. They may sleep in train or steamer, and only be away from home, business or farm for a working day. t When the previous application for a night str-' vice was made to the department,; some four years ago, it was suggested ...that trains could be dispatched at night from New Plymouth to Napier, each train stopping at intermediate stations en route to Palmerston North, where the trains could join and proceed to Wellington as one train. Tho proposal did not appeal to tho management at the time. Since then, however, a different spirit, one more reasonable and accommodating, has animated the service, and a thorough discussion and examination of the. proposal can now bo confidently anticipated. Tho feeling at Tuesday's meeting that the time had arrived to give the service a trial was as pronounced as it was sincere. It may not bo possible at’ present to justify a daily, service each way, but if the department could see its way to establish a tri-weekly service there is good reason to believe that it would attract all the coastal long-distance passenger traffic. One thing is certain, the public are not satisfied with the existing facilities, and if tho railways are not prepared to cater for tho needs of the public then somo enterprising motor firm will do so by putting “sleepers” on the road between the terminal points, as is being done so successfully all over England at the present time. But long distance night travelling facilities are peculiarly the possession of the railways —the track is little used at night time, short and light trains can be used, only the main stations need be called at, costs can be reduced to a minimum, and the overhead charges cannot be affected. It is to be hoped tho chamber will press the proposal, which is bound to secure the support of tho districts from New Plymouth to Wanganui and from Napier to Palmerston North, and really should appeal to the department itself. The department recognises that it can no longer play for safety and await business, but, like private undertakings, that it has to take risks and provide facilities and services if it is to make progress and attain success.