NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22510, 19 September 1938, Page 7

NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE

WAITAKI CROSSING

TESTS NOW BEING MADE

Test piles are now being driven to test the river bed for the new railway bridge across the Waitaki river, and to ascertain whether sandstone seams exist there, as the work will be greatly facilitated if there is a solid foundation, according to the district railway engineer, Mr P. H. Morey. The new bridge, it is expected, will be a concrete and steel structure, 54 chains long. The present bridge, which is used for road and rail traffic, has been considered unsatisfactory for some time. It is proposed that it be taken over by the Main Highways Board and that the new bridge be built by the Railways Department on the downstream side.

The building of the bridge will represent the completion of an extensive programme of bridge construction undertaken by the department to meet the increased traffic on the main line between Christchurch and Dunedin and to allow the introduction ot heavier and more powerful locomotives. It is the intention of the department to transfer the G locomotives at present operating on the midland line. between Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass, to the main south line when the new K class locomotives are available. The new locomotives at present being constructed at the Hillside Railway Workshops, are expected to be ready early in the new y ear ; They are 70 feet long and weigh about 140 tons, as compared with those o the G class, which are 64 feet 6 inches long and weigh 100 tons.