PROPOSED NIGHT TRAINS

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1929, Page 10

PROPOSED NIGHT TRAINS

ATTITUDE OF DEPARTMENT - SEARCH FOR. SUITABLE RAIL ijHjIT,PROSPECT OF TARANAKI SERVICE. "A field of new traffic" that might bo . developed is that of night passenger services,” says the general manager of railways, Mr. H. H. Sterling, in his an* nual report. “In the South Island; we ' have already made a commencement in ' that direction, and the results have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant the belief that this matter might be ptirsued . with benefit to the department;’both from a financial point of view and from the point of view of service to the public, The latter aspect has a bearing that I regard as important. - ■ “In the South Island, -for instance, although the night passenger-trains hdv<=> ' hot resulted in a very striking' addition ; to the total number of passengers- car-. ■ ried, they are nevertheless., giving a degree of service that the reports show to be very much appreciated by the public at large and by the business-cbm-. munity in particular. “The great advantage to business men • of being able to travel long distances in comparative comfort by night,, enabling a full measure of business to be done, during the day, is one that is- being 1 increasingly appreciated, by them, -The points between New Plymouth and Wok lington, and Napier and seem to offer the most attractive prospects at present. It seems certain, how- ‘ ever, that - for some time to conie’-tho traffic is not likely to be large enough ■ ■to warrant the running of trains, but I feel ’that it may be possible to develop - a rail-unit to suit the traffic, and apart from the general question bf the usd of- ” rail-units wq are prosecuting particular ' inquiries, in .regard to this traffic, !-' ' ' “I am hopeful that the new traffic 1 which we shall be able to create in .thq directions I have indicated will do much to counteract the losses we are suffer-, ing in passenger traffic in other dliv ections.”