SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1929, Page 7

SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK

PROJECT GOINO THROUGH

WELLINGTON, October 15,

“The South Island Main Trunk is not only going through,” said a business man who recently .made, the trip through the Kaikoura country l.y motor, “but it is evident fronyvhat I saw that the preparations tor the commencement of the work are well in hand. I gathered on the way up that the survey of the line is complete and I could see for myself that the construction camps are nearly ready for a large number of men. Sixty men were working on the track at Wharamii,, where there is four miles of line which has lain idle and rusting for years. They were testing the ■sleepers, looking over the fishplates, and generally getting that section of line in order. Beyond that there is a considerable length of formation work to do. Lorries are taking a mass of material to the rail head and beyond. What struck me most w'as the permanence of the housing preparations. Though the cottages foi the married men and the quarters for the single men were in the ordinary Public Works style, there were quite a number of them erected already, and they were being painted, which does not look as though the job would be a short one. “From what I could see and hear, the route will follow the coastline. There will be some difficulty in skirting some of the sliding hillsides, which are frequent, but otherwise there do not seem to be such engineering difficulties as have been encountered on the North Island Main Trunk. Naturally, the route will be a winding one, which will add to the length of the completed job, From a scenic point of view, opening up as it will by rail one of the favourite motor routes With splendid seascapes backed by the Kaikouras, the new lire should be rich, but what else it will be rich in is less easy to forecast. The country is much of it in-hospitable-looking from the stock aspect, but perhaps the through traffic will assist in paying expenses. We have not heard much in Wellington of the activities of the line, but anyone who thinks that the project is still merely on paper is mistaken. There is every indication that not only js the job being tackled, but that numbers of men will be put on it very soon, and that every effort will be made to complete the line as soon as possible,” ' /

From inquiries made of the Public Works Department, it was ascertained that no special plant had been ordered from overseas for the completion of the Southern Main Trunk line. Most of the work, at any rate in the early stages, would be purely manual, and' what plant may bo required later can be supplied from the Government shops.

FROM PARNASSUS TO CONWAY. ROUTE APPROVED. The route for the section of the South Island Main Trunk Railway line between Parnassus and the Conway River has been definitely approved by the Engineer-in-Chicf of the Public Works Department. It provides for a one-in-seventy grade to the Hawkes-vvood Saddle from either side, and a tunnel approximately twenty-five chains in length through the saddle. This will be the only tunnel required in the first twelve miles of the line north of Parnassus. The alternative to the line decided upon was a one-in-fifty grade, which would have limited the carrying capacity of the railway and the speed yf the trains. The pegging-out of the permanent line from Parnassus to the Conway River is now An hand, and the work is being pushed ahead in view of the possibility of an early start being made with the construction of the line. , '. , As the line passes through pnvate-Hv-owncd property it will be necessary for land to be taken for the P®nose of the railway under the PublicWorks Act.