UP-TO-DATE STATIONS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5186, 3 October 1927, Page 2

UP-TO-DATE STATIONS.

* TRAVELLING FACILITIES.

REINSTATEMENT OF DINING CARS

The question of the equipment of railway stations is discussed by the Minister of Railways (Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) ip the Railways Statement.

New Zealand has much to look forward to, the Minister remarks, if some of the modern facilities of the British, European, and American stations can he included in the new stations being constructed hera The new Union station at Toronto is equipped with almost every conceivable convenience for the comfort of the travelling public. These include heated waiting-rooms, a high-class dining-room, counter refreshments, baths, showers, barber’s shop, and many other public utility services. “Wellington’s new station, for instance, will be equipped with every modern convenience,” says Mr Coates, “as passengers must, of necessity, spend a good deal of time at' this station in making connections too and from the Wellington-Lyttelton, Well-ington-Picton, and Wellington-Nelson ferry steamers, and with train services to and from various parts of the North Island. Services of this kind must be; provided in future so that increased inducement may he offered to passengers to patronise the national transport system in preference to other transport services. “I be;li«ve it will soon be necessary, also, to reopen the question of providing passengers with meals on trains. This' can he done by the reinstatement of dining saloons and by the supply of hampers. I secured specimens of the latter as used on the British railways, and have as a commencement arranged for a supply to be placed in service on some of the expresses. Refreshment services, whilst being expected to pay, must also be looked upon as a very necessary service to the travelling public, and do offer, if fully utilised, a very valuable saving of time to busy men and .women travelling by the express trains. The refreshment section of the English railway'systems is taken full advantage of hi popularising train services, and administrative officers know the value ofi giving rapid transit to passengers, while at the same time so arranging matters that the travellers land at their destinations fully equipped for the prosecution of business without avoidable loss of time in th? partaking of meals.

“It is, of course, anticipated that a higher standard and increased conveniences will cost a little more, but experience gained in other countries goes to show that where these are desired by the travelling public and are provided by railway systems no objection is raised to, charges being fixed reasonably to cover the improved service.”