THE NORTH INLAND TRUNK RAILWAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9305, 4 August 1908, Page 1

THE NORTH INLAND TRUNK RAILWAY.

♦ THROUGH TRAFFIC IN NOVEMBER. REMARKS BY THE HON W. HALLJONES. [FROM OXJK COKEESPONBENT.] i WELLINGTON, August 3. Th© linking up of the railheads on £he North Island Main Trunk line today brings Wellington into railway communication with Auckland. The distance by nail between the two cities is 426 miles, and the Mangonui-o-te-Ao Bridge, at which point, the last rail was put in, is 211 miles from Wellington and 215 miles from- Auckland. This bridge is one of the many pieces of bridge work on the heavy central section which skirts the western slope of the great central volcanio basis. The central pier of concrete is one hundred feet high, and the structure is of steeL the contractors being Anderson's, Limited. Of course the completion of the raillaying does not mean that through traffic can commence at once. A special effort has, been in progress for some time past in oi'der that the train conveying the parliamentary party to I the Fleet celebrations may get through, and on Friday and Saturday next, un- ' less some untoward event should occur, the fir-sb train will travel from Wellington to Auckland, but a good deal remains to be done before the Public Works Department can hand over the line to the Railway Department. The transfer is not likely to take place until the beginning of November. The station yards at Horopito, Pokako and ! Ohakune have not yet been finished. ; The Mangonui-o-te-Ao Bridge has to be painted, and a very large amount of ballasting remains to be done. Considerable stretches of the line in the central portion are only partly ballasted, and several cuttings and embankments have to be widened but to regulation width. In addition, buildings have to be provided, cottages for surfacemen erected, and provision made at four points for the supply of ! water to the engines. About six weeks from now a provisional timetable will probably be issued, providing for the carriage of passengers between Wellington and Auckland, the central sections to b© nego- , tiated on slow trains. The parliamentary train will leave Wellington at 10.45 p.m. on Friday, and will stop only for coal and water. It is expected that the train will reach Auckland at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Tie heavy express engines are not yet ready,. but in any ca&B they could not go over the partially-ballasted line The Hon* W. Hall-Jones, Minister of Public Works, is decidedly pleased with the progress that has been made. "My promise to have the rails connected | this year has been fulfilled nearly five months earlier than was anticipated," he said in referring to the matter toj night-. "We have been favoured with fine weather this winter, taking it all around. As soon as I got authority to go on with the works everything , was prepared for in advance, and thus !we wenfe ahead without hindrance. A " lot has to be done before the line can ' be used for ordinary passenger traffic, but; we will make arrangements to avoid the inconvenient coach connection as early as possible. We will first ' run the Public Works train, giving a I two days' journey between the two 1 cities, but on. November 1 we will hand ■ the line over to the Railway Depart- , 'ment." I