RAILWAY EFFICIENCY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 570, 24 January 1929, Page 13

RAILWAY EFFICIENCY

A BIG IMPROVEMENT WHAT CONFERENCE LEARNED (Special to THE SUN) WELLINGTON, To-day. Striking evidence of improved elficiency in the railways was placed before the conference of Railway Department heads, which has just concluded in Wellington. This improvement is most apparent in the figures of the gross ton miles an hour for goods trains, which for the four weeks ended on Januarv 10 stood at 3,235 tons, as against 3.054 for the previous period. The increase follows a series of smaller rises and reflects improvements in the operations of the service. It reflects the effort which Mr. H. H. Sterling, railways manager, has made to improve one aspect of the railways, which was adversely criticised by the Fay-Raven Commission of three years ago. The net ton miles an hour have risen from 11.93 to 12.34 during the same period. The department’s speeding! up policy is shown in the fact that speeds of goods trains have risen from 11.32 miles an hour during the month —a figure considered satisfactory when the great deal of time spent by goods trains in standing about at stations is considered. The speed of passenger trains in the South Island also rose from 23.49 miles an hour to 23.70. As a nindication of the saving methods of the new management it is pointed out that a rearrangement of engine runs between Wellington and Paekakariki, alone, have introduced such economies in operation that it has proved possible to release three engines for other work. The fast passenger-trains introduced between Wanganui and New Plymouth have proved very popular, the returns of traffic being satisfactory. The facilities for dispatch offered by the parcels traffic have resulted m the steady growth of this side of the department’s activities.