FRANKTON STATION

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20375, 15 December 1937, Page 8

FRANKTON STATION

The letter of the Minister of Railways to Mr. C. A. Barrell, M.P., with respect to the railway station at Frankton in encouraging. The promised visit of inspection will be awaited with interest, and in the meantime the Chamber of Commerce should be collecting all the data that will have any bearing on the ministerial decision. The need for more suitable accommodation for the travelling public and the staff must be admitted. The station is the busiest in the Dominion, apart from the four chief centres, and probably in the number of trains entering and departing can show a more impressive record than some of those. The passenger traffic is heavy, because Frankton is a junction where rail connections have to be made, and however well the services may be co-ordinated there must be some time elapse before those who arrive can catch the train they want for the next stage of their journey. For that reason alone the accommodation for passengers should be adequate in every way. At the present time it is very limited, and in the winter timg especially it is well below the minimum requirements, . , _ _

Then in the matter of access for passengers and others tho station at Frankton must be the most inconvenient in the Dominion. That fact would be borne home if the Minister’s visit were made on a rainy day. He would then see what real difficulties have to be faced. It is impossible to reach the station platform dry, for passengers and their friends must walk more than 100 yards over an exposed bridge and along the platform before they can obtain shelter. No one likes travelling in wet clothes and footwear and there would be no occasion for it if modern facilities were provided. The railway station is really a series of long narrow buildings and it is doubtful, to say the least, whether they could be altered satisfactorily. They were extended as the traffic demanded, but they are quite inadequate to meet modern conditions. The traffic at Frankton, both passenger and freight, has outgrown the station. That is the fact of the matter. It must mean that the staff has to do its work under trying conditions. The request for a new station can be fully justified. The largest junction in New Zealand should have a more adequate station, convenient to both the travelling public and the officers of the Department.