HEAVY RAIL TRAFFIC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 301, 21 December 1945, Page 4

HEAVY RAIL TRAFFIC

CHRISTMAS RUSH BEGINS EXPRESSES FULLY BOOKED Thousands of people will travel on New Zealand's railroad system during the next few days, when the Christmas traffic is expected to reach its peak. To meet heavy demands for passenger accommodation, many extra trains have been arranged on main lines in all parts of the Dominion. Freight traffic during the holidays, however, will be reduced to a minimum, particularly between Christmas and New Year when warehouses will be closed and most freight services cancelled. Elimination of this class of traffic will make more coal available for the running of extra expresses, but from to-day onward passenger accommodation will be at a premium and travellers who have not booked must resign themselves to “standing room only.”

In the Wanganui district, which includes the busiest portion of Ihe Main Trunk, there will be a heavy demand on passenger rolling stock and motive power. To-day, for example, there will be six express trains each way between Wellington and Auckland, all fully booked in advance. Four of these trains have been added to the timetable to cope with the Christmas rush.

Due to Christmas Eve falling on a Monday holiday traffic will be spread over a longer period than previous years, but as many industries are closing down this week-end for the holidays, to-day and to-morrow are likely to be the busiest days of all.

Relief express trains between Wellington and Wanganui started running yesterday and will continue till Christmas Eve, the object being to relieve congestion on the ordinary Wellington-Wanganui New Plymouth expresses, now running daily instead of twice-weekly. No spare seats are available on express trains running between Wellington and Auckland for the next few days, and it was stated yesterday that bookings on the Main Trunk are exceptionally heavy up to January 13. Only a few seats are available up to that date.

On the Wellington-Wanganui-New Plymouth line, seats are still to be had, but ordinary and relief expresses are heavily booked, particularly today, to-morrow and Christmas Eve. In past years the tendency has been for heavier traffic northward up to Christmas, and heavier traffic southward after the holidays. This is again borne out to some extent by the fact that bookings for expresses from Wellington are heavier than they are for southbound trains.

“We are still very busy, but there has been a slackening off in bookings,” said an official at the Wanganui railway station yesterdaj*. The fact that many people have already booked is given as a reason why there has been an easing up in advance inquiries for seats. Adding to the heavy volume of civilian holiday makers this Christmas, wifi be the large number of service personnel returning from overseas. Others who have landed in New Zealand within recent months have retained their railway passes for Christmas and New Year travel.