MANAWATU RAILWAY SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 8

MANAWATU RAILWAY SERVICE

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l am very glad to see that the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce is going into the question of the new Manawatu railway timetable, which .like the present service, makes no suitable provision for the Wellington business man desiring to put in a few hours at Palmerston North and return by train the same evening. Palmerston North is only 87 miles distant, yet one cannot arrive there by fast train before 12.15 and the last similar train leaves at 3.ls—three hours in which possibly two ' lunch hours may intervene. Falmerston North and Wanganui are large and important centres, and warrant far better and more convenient daily services than are now -provided.

Would not if be possible to run a Limited train to Wanganui, leaving Wellington about 8 a.m., stopping at Levin, Palmerston North (connecting with the 11 o'clock train to Woodville and Wairarapa), Feilding, Marton, arriving at Wanganui about 12.30. Then after lunch proceeding to New Plymouth, also with limited stops. The return train could leave Wanganui about six (after arrival of the-New Plymouth train), providing a connection with the Main Trunk express at Marton, picking up passengers from Hawke's Bay at Palmerston North, and arriving in Wellington about eleven. A train of this nature "carries out the same useful service from Frankton to Auckland every evening, providing a connection from Rotorua, Tauranga, and the King Country.

If the suggested Limited train to New Plymouth left at 8, the Napier could still be dispatched at 9.40, and intermediate passengers for the New Plymouth line transferred at Palmerston North. This latter train (similar to Field's Express) could incorporate the one which leaves Wanganui for Hawera at 4 p.m.

One of the mysteries of the new time-table is why the Napier train should take six minutes longer to reach Paekakariki than the New Plymouth mail, whilst from that point the Napier (usually a heavier train with

the same number of stops) beats the other by eight minutes to Palmerston. Coming the other way, the Napier takes 54 minutes from Paekakariki whilst the sub.urban every-station train takes only five minutes more and the New Plymouth four minutes less. I contend that the opportunity should have been taken to revise and speed up the Napier and New Plymouth time-tables, which have been in existence for years. Otane and Longburn (Napier-Wellington) and Makotuku and Otane (WellingtonNapier) should be eliminated, also the long stop at Woodville and the traincrossing" at Ashhurst reverted to. The Palmerston North-Woodville section is painfully slow, even allowing for the Gorge. On the New Plymouth line there are far too many unimportant and refreshment stops all tending to lengthen unnecessarily the tedious journey.—I am, etc.,

FREQUENT TRAVELLER.