OTIRA TUNNEL.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 July 1920, Page 3

OTIRA TUNNEL.

TO BE IN USE WITHIN THREE j YEARS. (Lyttelton “Times.”) Provided work goes forward without a hitch, passenger trains should be running through the Arthur’s Puss tunnel within three years. Engineering experts say that it wilt take twelve months to complete the present excavating and concrete lining operations. Then the tunnel will require to be cleaned up, permanent rails will have to be laid, and provisions made for electrification work which will occupy another eighteen months at least. The tunnel is five miles twenty-live chains in length, and there is still a dis- | tanee of approximately forty-four chains to be hollowed out in the top headin’". Tile Bealey men are now working one mile and thirty-seven chains from the eastern entrance, and the- Ofcira men three miles and twenty-four chains troin the western entrance. When both gangs make progress at the normal rate, they

can excavate, arch and line one'chain in six days, but there is always the possibility of delay through an unforeseen cause. To meet contingencies, the Public Works Department intends to send another gang of fifteen men into the Henley face, where there will then lie three shifts, each working six hours. At the Otira end there are about sixty men employed inside the tunnel, working in four sliifs of four hours each. When they hare up round the scene of the slip these men will go on lor the ordinary wet schedule time of six hours a day. The Government ,h’as now decided definitely that trains passing through the tunnel shall bo carried on electric power generated by steam, and that the full electrified section shall extend a distance of seven miles, from the Arthur’s Pass station to the Otira station. Tenders for this part of the work will close on August 7th. The plans show that Otira wili lie the real centre of tunnel activities. Tn addition to the power-house and fitting shop, forty model dwellings will be erected there for the electricians and workmen. The lay-out of the present yards at the Arthur's Pass and Otira stations will be changed entirely. The platforms will he of the “island” type, set up between the main line and the sidings, and subways will he constructed for the use of passengers. When trains arrive for the tunnel trip only the engines will be changed. Carriages will travel either way.