Railways passenger services reshuffled

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 6

Railways passenger services reshuffled

PA Wellington The General Manager of Railways (Mr T. M. Hayward) yesterday announced an eight-step reshuffle of passenger services, aimed at saving 52.5 M a year, and said he wanted the new deal brought in as soon as possible.

But the scheme hinges on the conversion of the Silver Star to a part-sleeper, partseating train, which the four main railways unions have said is unacceptable.

Mr Hayward took the unusual step of announcing the. new plans on a public holi-i day. His scheme envisages:

— The conversion of the; Silver Star, which will lead, to the withdrawal of the! Northerner from the Auck-land-Wellington overnight service; — The Northerner carriages will be shifted to the Wellington-Napier Endeavour run to provide a more comfortable, higher capacity service; — After that, the Palmer-

ston North-Wellington Sunday train will be dropped, and its passengers carried by the Northerner will run from Napier on the Endeavour timetable: —Existing Endeavour carriages will replace the converted railcars now used on the Picton-Christchurch line:.' — The Christchurch-Dunedin-Invercargill services! on Friday? and Sunday nights will be dropped. Passengers will go by bus; — Three carriages from this service will replace the converted railcar running the New Plymouth-Taumarunui line: — The freed railcars and carriages will then be pressed into service on the Wellington suburban lines, which, like Auckland, have a chronic rolling stock short1 — The Saturday New Ply-mouth-Taumarunui train will be abolished. The converted partsleeper, part-seating luxury overnight express between Auckland and Wellington

would provide a seven-nights-a-week service instead of the present sixnights service, Mr Hayward said.

Changes proposed on the Christchurch - Invercargill run would not affect the Southerner daylight service running Monday to Saturday. The popular tourist steam train, the Kingston Flyer, would cease running from Kingston to Lumsden, and the branch line would probably close because of high maintenance costs, Mr Hayward said. It will not, however, be the end of the Kingston Flyer. It would be transferred for service on a main line.

“The idea of all this is to improve services which are used bv the public,” Mr Hayward said, adding that he expected the public would applaud action to correct the Railways* financial problems.

The “package,” as he called it, had been sent to the railway unions, and he hoped to meet union officials soon to discuss it.

“I would like to see the changes this year,” Mr Hayward said. “It will take a few months to alter the Silver Star. Until that is done we cannot free the Northerner to start the rest of it.” The unions, . meanwhile, have opposed the Silver Star conversion scheme since it was announced early last month, saying it was not in the national interest, especially in an oil crisis. Talk’s on the issue between the railways and the unions broke down last month after only a few days.

Commenting on Mr Hayward’s latest proposals, the secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, Mr J. Goodfellow, said yesterday that he was adopting a “wait and see” attitude.

As the plans hinged on the Silver Star conversion, he could not see talks getting far as the unions and the department were “poles apart.” The “underground railway” — three passenger carriages earmarked for destruction by the New Zealand Railways — arrived in the Otahuhu workshops on Monday after railwaymen rescued them from the furnaces at Marton and spirited them north. Railwaymen say the carriages appear to be in reasonable condition.

“The department made the mistake of condemning these carriages without a proper inspection,” said Mr G. Peebles, Otahuhu branch chairman of the Railway Tradesmen’s Association. “Common sense tells me it would be more reasonable to ■ fix up the carriages we have [rather than spend overseas 'funds on new ones.”