EAST COAST RAILWAY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4709, 9 June 1924, Page 3

EAST COAST RAILWAY.

WAIHI TO ATHENREE THIS YEAR. TAURANGA IN THREE YEARS. In face of the somewhat adverse weather conditions experienced of -late good progress has been made with the construction of the WaihiAthenree section of the Fast Coast railway line (says the Waihi Telegraph) The railhead has now reached a point some four miles fifteen chains from the Waihi station —the line being just beyond the site fixed for the Waimata station yard—leaving about three miles of line to be put down to complete the stretch. A few more lengths of rail will carry the line to. the top of the hill, from which the grade on the run down to Athenree will be about one in fifty, the fall from the hill to the station beiig 306 feet. There are no obstacles ahead, and, weather permitting, the line should reach the Athenree station yard in about 10 weeks. With the two points connected the department’s stone quarry at Athenree will be utilised for ballast, and will give employment to 15 or 20 men. It is estimated that the quarry will yield about 30,000 yards of metal, and this quantity of stone will be more than sufficient to complete the ballasting of the line. THROUGH TO ATHENREE. With the start of quarrying explosives capable of displacing anything up to 10,000 yards will be fired in one big shot, so that ample ballasting material will be almost immediately available, but as it is consideied improbable that the Public Works Department will commence the running of a train service between Waihi and Athenree much before the end of the year there will be no occasion to unduly hasten the work of ballasting the line. It will, however, be in readiness for traffic when or before the department is in a position to put passenger and goods trains on. Beyond Athenree the formation work going towards the 14-mile peg, which is within two miles of Katikati township and marks the point at which the Armstrong Whitworth Company takes up the work of construction, is well forward, and there is nothing to pievent the railhead being carried to the Tuapirc River well before the close of the year. The bridging of the Tuapiro will entail some time, and there wil.' also be a fairly large cutting to be made en route .to the 14-mile peg, but there is np reason why the Athen-ree-Katikati section should not ue available for traffic by the end of next summer, probably before then. Pending the provision of a station building a( Ka'tikati, and this wiil form part of the work to be carried out by the Armstrong-Whitworth Company, the nearest station to that township will be at the 13-mile peg, some three miles on the Athenree side, but this will tap practically the whole of the Katikati district, and should open up. an extensive traffic, with material benefit to Waihi. KATIKATI ONWARDS. t rom the 14-mile peg onwards to Te Puna, a stretch of about 18 miles, the line will be laid by the ArmstrongWhitworth Company, and m terms of the contract must be handed over to the Government within three years from the time of the signing up by the contracting firm complete, and in readiness for running, with all necessary buildings and other equipment, it is understood that the firm signed up towards the end of March last, which means that the section must be available not later than the end of March, .192.7. So far the contractors have made no move beyond the carrying out of preliminary surveys, but it is expected that before many weeks elapse a start will be made with the construction works,, which are to be commenced from the Tauranga end, and when in full swing will afford employment to some 400 men. All the latest mechanical, devices uspd in connection with large constructional works of this nature will be introduced by the company, and it is reported that the first instalment of the machinery reached Auckland by steamer a. few days ago. From Te Puna onwards the line will be laid by the Public Works Department, the stretch to Tauranga being one of about five miles. On this section much if the formation work was done several years ago, the only undertakings or any magnitude left undone at that time being the building of two bridges. Thus it will be a comparatively easy matter to complete the work well before the Armstrong Whitworth Company has constructed the line between Katikati and Te Puna. This being the case, a regular train service .should ber unnning between Waihi and Tauranga inside three years.