NO MORNINGSIDE TUNNEL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 874, 18 January 1930, Page 10

NO MORNINGSIDE TUNNEL

Government Abandons Scheme

MINISTERS OFFICIAL DECLARATION

THIS morning the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W B Taverner, announced that the Government had definitely decided to abandon the construction of the Momintrside tunnel.

The decision was forecast in The Sun some months ago, but this is the first official declaration by the Government. —— It is stated that the cost of the tunnel would have been somewhere in the vicinity of £2,174,571) and this huge expenditure would not be warranted because of the present state of the country's finances. Nor would the tunnel result in any great economical benefit to the department. The tunnel would have run from Beach Road, opposite the new railway’ station, under the City to Morningside, connecting the main line to the north in the new yards. For some time past surveyors and engineers have been estimating costs and materials and testing the suitability of the soil through which the tunnel would run. The Minister said this morning that estimated construction costs would be something like a million. This did not take into consideration the fact there might be danger to buildings under which the line ran, as the -earth formation would put a great number of engineering difficulties in the way. Tunnels, the Minister considered, were unsatisfactory in the main. Consideration would have to be given to the possibility of the erection of large buildings above the tunnel. In the estimate a reasonable allowanee had been made for general con-

tingencies, but there would still main possibilities that might greatly to the estimated cost n grade of the tunnel would mak« ? necessary to electrify the Hue. and thii Mould lead to still timber expend * the electrification of the whohTAn land suburban system and the Xom' era electrification would have to carried as far as Helensville tT cost of the electrification of ail tw lines would be about £1.174 570 oh™. 6 U }% the. total cost of the schem» , ~-.l .4,0, o. In addition to that further electrically equipped rolling would have to be provided to cope wuf the traffic in rush hours. The daily average of passengers t„ the North, mclud ug the suburban areas, was 4.720. As far as goods Z concerned, the haulage costs thronrt the tunnel wonld not mean a savin to the department and the presnn, traffic, which did net show acv pf crease, did not warrant the expendil" ure of large sums of money as w oß u be necessary if the tunnel were ceeded with. pr °- The Mayor, Mr. George Baildon said he was glad to know that th« Government had reached some finalitv on the subject. The Morningside tunnel was an in portant factor in the Auckland Tran?! port Board’s policy regarding 0,Avondale district, and now that thn Government had made its final d W i sion, the board would discuss the future policy regarding the Avondale district at its next meeting.