OTIRA TNUNEL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16943, 18 January 1923, Page 6

OTIRA TNUNEL.

COMPLETION NEAR AT HAND. Tire big task of linking up the West Coast by rail with Canterbury by means of the Otira Tunnel is rapidlyapproaching completion, and there appears to be every prospect that the tunnel will be ready for through traffic in April or May. Mr P. R. Climie, organiser for the Canterbury Progress League, informed a, “ Star ” reporter this morning that when he last visited the tunnel, at the end of November, he estimated, irtnn the position of the work of the various departments at that stage, that the tunnel would be ready to be opened for through traffic in April of this year. He had based his forecast on the work remaining to be done and the progress that had been made since his previous visit. He had not visited the tunnel 6ince then and was not in receipt of any information that would justify him in altering his former estimate. " The tunnel itself is virtually completed, and it is practically only the final work of the electrical installation that now remains to be done,” Mr Climie said in reply to a further question. At the December meeting of the Progress League he had reported on his last visit to the tunnel. In that report he had stated that at the Otira end the station yard, rail laying, ballasting, 6ubvvay, platform and power station building were all virtually complete, and so were the two reservoirs. Other work was making good progress, p.ud the railway township was advanced tc wards completion. The position was pot nearly so striking at the Arthur’s Pass end; while the rail laying and ballasting were practically complete there was a gooG <)-eai ot iorniation work to bo done on the platform and the subway leading to it. The station building had to be moved to its new position. Steady progress had been made with the girder bridge over the Bealev River, and this should be finished before the end of the month. A start was being made with the erection of the dwellings. The League has asked the Minister of Public Works and the Department tc advise it of the actual date when the tunnel will be opened for traffic, hut up to the present no official communication on the subject has been received. It is. however, believed that the date will be some time in May at the latest.