OTIRA TUNNEL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 286, 27 August 1920, Page 7

OTIRA TUNNEL

EMSOTBIO EQUIPMENT CONTRACT. On Wednesday offlcTS of the Public Works Department met Sir Arnold Gndley, rcnresentativo of the English Electric Co., Ltd., In discussion of details of the ten ders for the electrification of the Otfrs Tunnel. The Enclish company a tondor Is practically accepted. It is for a sum in "the vicinity of £300.005. One Government also received a. tender for a, Bomf. what similar amount from the National Electrical Engineering 00. to supply equipment required for tho work, tho manufacturo, in large part, of tho General Rleclslo 00., of Shcneotady, New lork. The Public Works Department Tenders Board, in accoptiwr the tenders, had to take into account a number of factors apart, from prico. and tho chief of theso was tho plant nroposcd. tho possible nower developed, end thn time required for InBtallation. Tho Bntrlr.h Electrlo 00., Ltd., to whom the completo contract for tho electrification of the Arthur's Pass section of the Midland railway will ho awarded (subject to ncErotlation of details). Is gon-ora-liv accepted as ono of tho more thoroughly organised of British electrical manufacturing firms for undertaklne electrical schemes of any magnitude in an> part of tho world. Tho compauy iB a combination, brought about last year, of the following well-known firms:—Dick, Kerr, and Co., Wd.. Preston and Kilmarnock; the Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltfl., Oovontryi tho Phoenix Dynamo' Co., Ltd., Bradford; Willanß and Robinson, Ltd., Eunby. . The contract -which Sir Arnold Grldloy, asslslcd by Mr. 0. P. O. Macfarlanc, A.M.1.E.E., has negotiated on behalf of the Enclish Electrio Company, Ltd., includes tho electrical equipment of a coalfired generating station of 4000 li.p. capacity at Otira: the supply of six electrlo locomotives; thq electrification of the track between the present steam termini at Otlra- and Arthur's Pass, including the new five and a. half mile tunnel, tho electrlo lighting of the tunnel, and tho equipment of tho necessary workshops at Otira. It Is expected that the whole work will bo completed, and tho electrified lines ready for oporation in about eighteen months. Sir Arnold Oridley will leave for a short visit to Australia towards the end of September, and will return to Eneland via Colombo. (