THE RAILWAYS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1923, Page 4

THE RAILWAYS.

COST OF TUXXICLbIXG. <iOVKRX.MF.NT V. CONTRACTOR. WKI.IJXGTOX. Sep. 18. .Mr . K. Fulton, tiio well-known Wellington engineer, has received a pamphlet regarding tho const ruction of the long Connaught limucl on i!ie Canadian I’aciiic Railway. Tlic details given art; interesting, in view of the lone delays and the great cost in .•• >nneximi with the making of tltc Otira tumici. The Connaught tunnel, live miles in length, is a little shorter than the Otira tunnel—about a quarter -. J a mile—but the Connaught i.-. a double track. In speed of construe!ion there is no comparison. The contract >rs fur the Connaught In-pan to pierce the Selkirk mountains in August, Rll.'t. and the tunnel was opened for trallie in December of llllfl. 1 it. any wonder, eommenis the *•' Rest.” that the i.'o - eruinent hopes that contractors of similar calibre will be available to deal with the next big Xew Zealand I min d which may be a miles (or tlimv- | ahoiits) tunnel from Kaiwarri to Tuva | Fhit) (.Main drunk deviation), or a I live or six miles tunnel from .Marcnga ron or Fpper Hull to C ross Creek i (Itimutakii deviation). The finished .cross-section of the Connaught tunnel is said to measure iMft in height by ‘Jblt i-i width. tCompare the following sentence from the oflieial description of the Otira tunnel in cross-section:—The clear height /above the rail level is loft din, with a maximum width of loth). The Connaught tunel was built to aw'd the climb over the lop of Rogers’ Pass through a, gorge subject in winter and spring to heavy snow slides, against which the railways was protected i v |J miles of permanent Mtowsheiis. The snowsheds have been eliminated by the tunnel, and tile large force of pu.-ii.‘r engines, snowploughs, and equipment shops, which performed busy service at Rogers’ Pass on both sides of the :V ; -

kirk Range, lias been transferred elsewhere. The tunnel has reduced the summit elevation of the Selkirk portion of the line from l.bdUlt to 1.7111. It has reduced the length of the max’iniiin grade from 22. Id miles to 0.01 idles, the maximum grade 2.2. per vent... or 1 in -Id, remaining the same, vhile the maximum train load remains '.).•> same. The operating conditions are i uch more favourable in consequence of the lower elevation, the shortening of the grades and the reduction of exp mse and delay in the season of snow. The distance across the Selkirk .Ihiiini.ii is has boon shortened by -1.1-M miles, and the track curvature has been irt.t-ied bv an amount corresponding to seen complete circles. The pamphlet, describing "this six million dollars’ expenditure,” also states: “ The method by v iii< h the tunnel was driven involved •!:• timmiliug of a pioneer bore | arul'eling the c< c|jc line of the main tunnel. This feature was now, and the interest of tunnel engineers was naturally aroused the world over. Its ndnpriui arose. f>rm the keen desire of the C’.l’.R. to have the undertaking •je.te'ily finished, i lie world’s ilunncliin'g records woie repeatedly broken.” Between the beginning of the Connaught tunnel and its opening for traffic a little over three years elapsed. In the ease of Otira the corresponding period vas more like fifteen years. As money at d per cent doubles in fifteen years, the comparative loss of interest during the construction is, in the ease of the Otirn tunnel, staggering. Does not this loss outweigh the profit charged by a contractor.’ Might it not be as well to pay the lost money to a contractor in .Vow Zealand as to a money-lender in London