EAST COAST RAILWAY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4592, 30 July 1923, Page 2

EAST COAST RAILWAY.

TE PUNA-KATIKATI SECTION. TENDERS TO BE CALLED. An important move towards pushing on with the East Coast railway has been decided by the Government. This takes the form of calling tenders in Great Britain, Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand for the construction of that portion of the line between Katikati and Ts Puna, a distance of 18 miles. It is the first time for 20 years that such a step has been taken. The estimated cost will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. One condition of the tenders is that the work must be finished in three years. The scheme involves a great change, from the present system of carrying out railway construction. Hitherto the Public Works Department has don? the work by either day labour, the co operative system, or small contracts. The route crosses numerous rivers, involving substantial b’idges of the steel-plate girder type, and heavy earthworks. The construction of the Katikati-Te Puna section will go a long way towards filling the Waihi-Tauranga fJ gap—in fact it is anticipated that by the time the con - tract is finished other portions of. the line between Waihi and Taurangi will be finished, and also three sections between those two centres. Then, after the bridge across the harbour from Tauranga to the Mount has been constructed, sometime this year, this wi l ! mean connecting up another long stretch. Survey works are proceeding towards Opotiki. There will be very heavy work between there and Gisborne, and this will probably be the last section. The Eskdale-Napier section has just been taken over by the Department.