HEAVY TRAINS TAKE EXCURSIONISTS TO HOLIDAY RESORTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18639, 17 December 1928, Page 11

HEAVY TRAINS TAKE EXCURSIONISTS TO HOLIDAY RESORTS.

TELEPHONE CONTROL SYSTEM SAVES TIME. Passenger traffic on the railways has been very heavV during the past two days, the start of the excursion fares on Friday being principally responsible. The Invercargill express on Saturday was a “twenty total” train, the largest allowed on the line. This morning, another heavy train left for the south. The rush during the holidays will give the train control system its first severe test. This service, by which all trains between Christchurch and Oamaru are controlled by telephone, was instituted List January and has been in operation ever since. Already it has justified its cost, for it has resulted in many savings. It has been found that the express trains are running more truly to schedule and that in the case of goods services, the savings have been very large indeed. As an example, a saving of one hour and twenty minutes was made on Saturday in the of one goods train on a fifty mile run. while in another case on the same day, the time saved amounted to one hour and fifty minutes. Savings such as these reduce the running costs of the railways considerably. The system enables the train control officer to make adjustments to the timetables while the trains are running. thus crossings to be made between trains which may not fc»e running exactly to schedule. This means a saving of time to passengers and the quicker delivery of goods.