TRAFFIC DELAYS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 175, 27 July 1942, Page 2

TRAFFIC DELAYS

BOTH ROAD AND RAIL

EMBANKMENT SUBSIDES (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sunday. Serious traffic delays, "Doth rail and road, will follow upon fresh and greater breakaways on Friday night of the railway embankment near Pukerua Bay, which caused trouble last October. Both lines of the railway are closed and major repair work must be done before regular traffic can be resumed. The main highway has not broken away, but material from the railway embankment above has buried the surface deeply, and for the present it is impassable. Railway traffic was disorganised yesterday. All passengers on the Main Trunk were transhipped between Paremata and Paekakariki on the old highway over the Paekakariki Hill. The 7 a.m. express passengers from Auckland reached Wellington at 9.35 a.m. and the Limited express passengers at 10.37 a.m. Other trains over this route were similarly delayed. The Napier express was sent through the Wairarapa. The delay to the Limited express was reduced to-day to half an hour. At first passengers for and from the north were transhipped by road buses from Paremata to Paekakariki, this causing a delay of one hour, but now a one-way road has been built ?ast the slip on the coastal road and it has become possible to divert the buses into this and tranship passengers to and from Plimmerton instead of using Paekakariki. Perishable goods are being sent through the Wairarapa. I

There are indications that still more of the embankment will give way, and upon this will depend

whether a single line of railway can be restored in the next few days. Permanent repairs may entail bridging of a gap several chains wide, in part at any rate, by viaduct construction.

It is considered probable that the earthquake was a main contributing factor in causing the breakaway.

The subsidence on the railway line, which began in a small way on Friday afternoon and became serious on Saturday morning, had extended considerably by this afternoon, the General Manager of Railways, Mr. Casey, stated to-night. "The countrv round the slip is absolutely sodden," Mr Casey said, "and it is difficult to know whether there will not be a further subsidence. At present work is being concentrated on the provision of one line and it is hoped that e read y for use to-morrow night. The permanent line in its new K Oo Thu?s<££ llkeiy to be ready

. The expresses from Wellington arrived in Auckland behind schedule this morning. The Limited, due at 9 30 a.m., arrived at 10.50 a.m., while 4ii X iJ a train from Wellington, due at 11.15 a.m., arrived at midday.