Trains to Use New Deviation

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 14

Trains to Use New Deviation

START ON SUNDAY TRIALS OYER WATERFRONT ROLTE At 9 o'clock on Sunday morning the first Railway Department train will run over the Westfield deviation. This will be a work train carrying engineers and signalmen for the purpose of inspecting the line and collecting material. At 11.30 o’clock on Sunday night the first goods train will pull out from Auckland on her long journey to Wellington and the deviation, actually started in 1924, will begin to return revenue to the department. Only one track will be in use on the deviation and only goods trains will use it. The left-hand track was completed some time ago but it will be two months before the right-hand set of rails is taken over by the Railway Department. Even then the deviation will not be used for passenger service. Not until the new station is finished and the whole of the Westfield deviation scheme completed will passenger trains run along the waterfront instead of through Parnell and Remuera. As far as the travelling public is concerned the running of goods trains over the deviation will make no difference whatever. Neither will it to merchants and tradesmen. Railway officials are the only ones who will be affected. DISPATCH floods trains will still run to their usual time-table, hut the officials who handle them will find the new line and the new arrangements much more to their liking than the present congested area in which trains are made up and dispatched. At present all goods trains, as soon as they have been loaded and marshalled for dispatch, must be shunted about the yards and backed into the station platforms before beginning their journey. This means that they cross the bottle-neck at Breakwater Road and add to the congestion of an already hopelessly congested system. After Sunday goods trains for the South will be marshalled in the yards and dispatched from Campbell’s Point, where a temporary tablet station has been erected. Special sidings for the arrival and dispatch of goods trains have been provided in the main goods yard and these will assist materially in the departure of passenger and mixed trains from the present station site. The full effect of this removal ol

congestion will be appreciated at such periods as rush times during the Christmas, New Year and Easter holiday periods, when several extra trains have to be provided to deal with the enormous increase of passenger traffic.

; At present every train leaving and ; entering the Auckland station yards ! and station has to cross over the two i sets of rails at Breakwater Road, and j this often causes delay in the dispatching of trains. From Sunday

i that delay should become a thing of j the past. TEMPORARY CROSSINGS | Although the six station nuildings ! on the deviation have been comI pleted in themselves, the lay-out of : the station yards has yet to be fin-

ished and the overhead footbridges (which are to do away with pedestrian traffic crossing the rails) have to be finished. This should all be done by Christmas time. So that goods trains will be able to pass on the deviation temporary

crossings have been arranged at Glen Innes and Sylvia Park. Tablets will be exchanged and surrendered at these two points. At Sylvia Park, near Westfield, the junction is made with the main line to the South, and the train will con-

tinue with the automatic signalling. No change is to be made in the timetables of the arrival and departure of the present goods trains, as any change would interfere with the running of the service on the main line. One of the principal advantages to

bo gained from the use of the deviation is the reduction in the haulage costs of heavy goods trains. At present all goods trains going up the temnera incline are hauled by two , engines. This double-banking will be j done away with after Sunday. The present maximum load of an ■ a.B. engine up the incline is 230 tons. On the deviation a similar engine will be able to haul 600 tons with ease. Furthermore, the delay caused by ! adding extra wagons to goods trains j at Otahubu will be obviated. FINANCIAL GAIN At present only comparatively small loads cau be hauled up the Remuera i incline and then, on arrival at Ota--1 huhu. the trains are made up to their | capacity loads by having extra wagons i added to them. This causes further j delays of goods trains. From Sunday onwards the trains wfill not need j to be altered and thus a considerable . amount of time and money will be | saved. I Some idea of the financial gain to the Railway Depart ment can be gauged ] from the fact that on an average ! S.OOO tons of goods a day are hauled I up the Remuera incline, and it is esj timated that the use of the deviation i will save the department £22,500 a I year in haulage costs alone, j The annoyance caused to residents of those parts of Remuera and Par--1 nell and the Great South Road who | live near the main railway line will i be removed and the sleep-destroying noises will no longer be a nightmare ; to light sleepers. ! Residents of the districts through I which the deviation runs will also j benefit, though not to the fullest extent I until the passenger service is iuaug- | urated. There are six stations on | the route between Auckland and West- | field —-Orakei, Purewa. Glen Innes, : llarama, Panmure and Sylvia Park! | These, in time to come, will enable ! residents to enjoy a fast suburban ser- ! vice to and from the city. INCREASING LAND VALUES j Laud values have increased consid- | erably in these areas since the dej viation was started and there is no | doubt that the land there will be i further enhanced by an accommodatj ing passenger service. It is more j than likely that in a few years' time 1 there will be greater building activity I toward the south-east of the city along i the new deviation. The land there !is ideal for suburban settlement. It ! has magnificent view s, is sheltered ; from prevailing winds, and the land Is perfect for the gardener. I The garden suburb of Orakei will be close to the line and will have its own station. Panmure and the area round Mount Wellington will be splendidly served and within a few years the pretty little farms will most probably be covered with attractive villas. It is the intention of the department to provide a good service for the new stations, and this will be made possible by the fact that the trains to Otahuhu, Papatoetoe and other outlying parts will all run over j the deviation.