RAILWAY EXTENSION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 621, 15 June 1876, Page 3

RAILWAY EXTENSION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

It is expected, remarks the Sydney Morning Herald , that the extension of the Southern railway line, from Gunning to Downing, a station seven miles beyond Yass, will be ready for opening next month, June. Mr Whitton, engineer-in-chief for railways, is now in the district making prepaiations for the opening. Downing is distant 194 miles from Sydney, and 29 miles from Gunning, to which place the line was opened in November last. The contract was let to Mr Williams in July, 1873; the date of completion was the Ist of December, 1875; the estimated cost, £195,00}. The rails will reach Yass station by the end of the present month. The next extension will be from Yass to Cootamundra, a length of 64. J miles. This contract was let to Messrs A. and R. Amos and Co, in May, 1874 ; the specified date of completion is the 30th June, 1876 ; the estimated cost, £221,000 There has been an extension of time allowed to the contractors, and now the date of completion to Murrumburrah is November, 1876. The distance from Downing .to Murrumburrah is miles (a little more than half the distance to Cootamundra), and 228£ miles from Sydney. The ex tended time for completion to Cootamundra is 30th April, 1877. The next extension is from Cootamundra to Wagga Wagga, 514 miles—2Bo miles from Sydney. The contract for this extension was let to Messrs R. Amos and Co, in September, 1874; the original date of the completion is 31 si December, 1876, but an extension of time has bean allowed to the 31st December, 1877. The estimated cost is £173,000. On th« Western line it is probable that the permanent way will reach Blayney, and the line be ready tor opening to that place in August next The contract for the extension from Bathurst to Orange, 47| miles, was let to Messrs Wm. Mason and Co. on the 29th July, 1874 ; the date of completion is the Ist of August, 1876. On the Northern line, it is expected that the extension to Quirindi will be ready for opening in August next. The contract for the line between Murrurundi to Tamworth, 62J miles, was let tjo Messrs Larkin and Wakeford, on the 4th March, 1874 ; the date specified for completion was 31st March, 1876 ; but the time has been extended—to Quirindi, August, 1876 ; (o Tamworth, 30th September, 1877. It will thus be seen that during the present year 137 additional miles of railway will be opened—namely, Southern line, Gunning to Murrumburrah, 64 miles ; Western line, Bathurst to Orange, 48 miles ; and Northern line, Murrurundi to Quirindi, 25 miles.