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Hokitika Guardian, 30 April 1930, Page 4

In the thought for the times to-day there is a reference to a real railway express. This is the de luxe train now being established between Auckland and Rotorua. All the carriages are new and specially built for the train, and are of the very latest observation type. To enable an hour to he cut off tli(> run, some eleven stoppages on the route are being eliminated. The Hoveriiment is evidently doing its duty well in inaugurating tit is special service. The Auckland Star in acknowledging what is being done, remarks “l-ho railway service should he as quick and as comfortable ns possible. That triiism might well he applied to the express service between Christchurch and the West Coast. All semblance of an “express” train however, ends at Oreymoiith, where the service becomes “mixed.” the “I mile journey to Hokitika becomes an afl'iii tion. Air Wild miebt well remark, as he did the other evening, that East Coast travellers when they come oil to the CrevmoutliHokitika section become the victims oi the Railway Department". Representations for some relief on the section have berm made over long years, and though Clovernmonts eomd and go, the obsolete time-table of t.lie years gone by continue. Indeed (be journey takes longer to complete now than it

did in the earlier years of inaugura--oii. When the mid-day goods train service was provided, it was thought some improvements in the passenger service would he possible. And of course they are possible, if there were not the red tape methods there arc about the conduct of the railways, it is a crime it would appear to arrive on a line ahead of time when there is no other traffic to be encountered. But it is not a crime to dally by the way, and arrive after scheduled time, making the journey more irksome still. It we are to have a Canterbury-West Uo-af/t express—and why. should we not?—let it be so in fact and not as a delusion. The traffic over, the line justifies better consideration, and if the railway management does not soon wake up lo the possibilities of the situation, they will soon find with the steady improvements being made in the highways connecting the two Coasts, that motor transport will he stepping in and securing the cream of the. traffic. The through road is so good now that the journey can be performed comfortably by motor and private enterprise is already contemplating the inauguration of a- service. Mr Furkert stated the other night that certain surveys were to be carried out affecting the Waimakiriri crossing, and if a decision were reached Dy the authorities on this point, and it was known the crossing was to be definitely improved, tne enterprise referred to, would step in and naturally must rival the rail traffic for quick passenger transport This is the inevitable if a better train service to Hokitika is not provided.