JOHNSONVILLE LINE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 83, 5 October 1931, Page 9

JOHNSONVILLE LINE

RESIDENTS ANXIOUS

FUTURE TRANSPORT

ELECTRIC UNITS

Though the completion of the Tawa Plat doviation is probably still two years ahead and the train service between Johnsonville, Khandallah, and Ngaio will not bo affected until tho j new tunnel lines aro in full commission, the residents of those districts are moving for an understanding as to the transport position when rail traffic, is diverted through the nontunnels. When that conies about the main line north will miss theso three suburbs, and the question which is exercising residents is whether the Hallway Board will be willing to maintain a Johnsonville-Wellington service for purely suburban traffic. Somo weeks ago the Ngaio and Khandallah Progressive Associations and the Johnsonville Town Board each appointed two members to act as special delegates to consider the problem ahead, and: several meetings in that regard have already been held and reported. Now. the question has, in the opinion of this special committee, been given a ,new interest in. that the Railway Board .proposes, to call for tenders for the equipping of tho Tawa Flat tunnels for electrical haulage, and as the delegates consider that suburban traffic can be handled effectively only by an electrified service they suggest- that the electrification of the existing line should be- considered at the samo time that the tenders for tho new line are under discussion. In addition to the electrification of the,present line/they suggest the provision of additional stops, as, for instance, between the last tunnel and Ngaio,'below Wad'estown, by which a very considerable area of warm and sheltered land in an attractive valley wouia be . opened for residential purposes. ■• . . FASTEST SERVICE. Such a service as would be possible by ,the eleetriScation of the service would, they maintain, bring Johnsonville, Khandallah, and Ngaio very much nearer the city, in time, than could be done under any other system of transport/ whether tram or bus, and, equally important, on low fares. These and other points were placed before -the1 chairman of tho Eailway ' Board (Mr. H. H. Sterling) by a deputation representing the three districts last week, and two main questions wero placed before him—(l) What would be the position of the present line when the doviation was complete, and (2) whether it was possible for suburban traffic from Johnsonvilley Khandallah, and Ngaio to be brought in to Lambton Station in the near future. SERVICE WOULD PAY. The speakers said they fully appreciated the fact that the Eailway Board had to 100k1 at the traffic needs from a business, and not a political, point of view; that was, the board had to bo convinced that the service asked for would pay. : ' , s- At present, it was remarked, tho service was divided between rail and bus, and lattetly had been further complicated by. the advent of taxi-cars, and it was realised that the revenue obtainable by the railway, under existing conditions, did not mako possible tho frequeiat and rapid service which the people jdeaired, and which could be provided were the whole of the traffic"from the three suburbs guaranteed the railways, and the line reconditioned upon thoroughly modern principles. The present state of things meantthat both the systems of transport were weakened, with the result that neither the speed of the service nor a continuance of the present low railway fares was assured. One speaker remarked that, though it would bo difficult to bring about, the people concerned would be wise .to enter into, j-an agreement to give the whole of-the 'district's transport to the railivayg and so. ensuro that the reconditioned line and service, would be a busi: ness proposition to the Eailway Board. On the other hand, should tho rail service be discontinued and tho transport bo left to-private enterprise, it was impossible that fares would remain, at their present level, but must climb;?-, the very fact that so great a volume, of traffic; would,, have to be handled at the peak hours of morning and evening would mean greatly increased overhead charges on capital laid out in buses, and for that reason the bigger business done by tho bus proprietors would tell against passengers, and not in their favour. FUTURE ROAD CONGESTION. A further point made was that, though buses might be able to give a fairly, rapid service now and in the immediate future, satisfactorily rapid road transport in, say, ten years' time, would be a very different matter, for road congestion must lead to the slowing up of all vehicles. There, was ample indication of that on" any race day. From that point it was argued that speed, was an essential factor in commercial success of transport service. In the case of tho Hutt road, for instance, buses took a vast amount of traffic from the trains, largely because of the saving in" time from home to city, and now'tho taxis were entrenching on bus business beeauso they could offer a still more rapid service. For the future transport to Ngaio, Khandallah, and Jelmsonville to bo commercially, successful, it: was maintained, there must be one- strong; frequent, and rapid service, not two or three: competing weak services, and such a ser- ; vice could only be- given, by, tho. reconditioning of the present railway to fit the Wellington-Johrisonvillo length for electrical units running at high speed and at frequent intervals. . Mr.: Sterling told tho deputation- that both questions raised,: the future of the Johnsonville length and also the question of bringing passengers from the three suburbs in to Lambton station, were under consideration by tho Bailway Board; until the. board had gone further into the matters ho could not make any statement upon them.