FASTER TRAINS COMING ON TANEATUA LINE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 10, 20 October 1950, Page 5

FASTER TRAINS COMING ON TANEATUA LINE

A revised timetable for the Auckland - Taneatua express trains, allowing for faster service, will come into operation on December 12.

Following is a letter on the subject received by the member for Bay of Plenty, Hon. W. Sullivan, from the Minister of Railv/ays, Mr Goosman:—-

I have pleasure in advising you that, commencing on Tuesday, December 12, 1950, the express trains between Auckland and Taneatua will be placed on accelerated schedules made possible by the elimination of a number of stops at stations between Auckland and Tauranga at which a recent review has shown traffic to be negligible. The extent of the acceleration will be over an hour in each direction.

The new timetable will provide for the train from Auckland to leave at 9.40 a.m. instead of 9.15 and to reach Tauranga at 4 p.m. instead of 4.44, and Taneatua at 6.47 p.m. instead of 7.30. The train from Taneatua will leave at 8.15 a.m., ten minutes later than at present, and will be timed to leave Tauranga at 11.5 a.m. instead of 10.54, and to arrive at Auckland at 5.26 p.m. instead of 6.20.

Stops will be made at Papakura, Pukekohe, Mercer, Huntly, Ngaruawahia, Frankton Junction, Hamilton;' Morrinsville, Waitoa, Te Aroha, Paeroa, Waihi, Athenree, Katikati, Tauranga and all stations between Tauranga and Taneatua. The foregoing alterations are designed to enhance the attractiveness of the train service from the point of view of the long-distance traveller. Existing departmental road services and other trains between Auckland and Hamilton, and between Paeroa and Tauranga provide coverage for stations at which express train traffic has been found to be almost non-existent and which will no longer be directly served by the express. It is anticipated that the alterations will be particularly appreciated by travellers to the popular holiday resorts on the East Coast.