TRAIN CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 16, 14 October 1942, Page 8

TRAIN CONTROL

Office At Ohakune To

Be Divided

Dominion Special Service. WANGANUI, October 13.

Because of the congestion and heavy traffic on the'single line between Frankton and Marton, the train control office at Ohakune Junction is to be split in. two. One section will control the Frank-ton-Ohakune end’of the Main''Trunk, and .the other will control.the line between. Ohakune and Palmerston North. This will necessitate two offices instead of one, and certain structural alterations will be made to the station building at Ohakune. New, instruments and telephones will also be installed, and it is expected that, two months will elapse before the second train control office is functioning. In the meantime four officers from other- parts of, the. Wanganui railway .district have been transferred to Ohakune ail'd are training as operators. '.This has increased the. staff of operators at Ohakune to eight, and the control system at that station will be the largest in New Zealand. Train control has been in ‘operation at.Ohakune for a number of years, . but since the'system'.was introduced the volume of traffic on the Main Trunk has greatly increased/ and is no\v described ae being too cumbersome for one man to handle on his own. The Frankton-Marton section, now controlled from Ohakune, is 225 milek in length, and one. Of the busiest sections in New Zealand. /The Marton-Palmerston North end of the Main Trunk 1 is under the jurisdiction of train control, Wellington, but as this block is in the ■ Wanganui railway , district .less"inconvenience . will be caused : when the new system comes into-operation. 1 ‘ / ■