SCROGGY HILL GRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1062, 28 August 1930, Page 9

SCROGGY HILL GRADE

CAUSE OF RAILWAY DELAY EXPLAINED QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE THE SUX’S Parliamentary Reporter

WELLINGTON, Wednesday. j The only way to make an improve- 1 ment to the Scroggy Hill section of j the railway in Auckland, according to j the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. A. Veiteh, is to ease the grade of the j line, but the return from this would not compensate for the outlay. Mr. H. G. R. Mason tLabour —Auck- i land Suburbs) asked the Minister: (1) j Whether he is aware that the train \ leaving Auckland at (5 a.m. on August 4 found Scroggy Hill too steep to ascend, and that it had to return to the bottom again and be taken up in two parts, with the result that delay was caused to several suburban trains and hundreds of workers were late for work? (2) Whether he is aware that similar occurrences on this hill are by no means rare? (3) What remedy docs he propose to effect? Mr. Veiteh replied: (1) My information is that the incident referred to was due to the Westinghouse brake “creeping” on, thus causing the engine to “stall” on a sharp cur\\\ The train was under its schedule load and in ordinary circumstances would have had no difficulty in negotiating the grade. (2) There have been other instances of trains stalling on this grade, but this has invariably happened during showery weather, which makes the rails very greasy. These occurrences are not peculiar to this particular grade, such difficulties being inseparable from the operations of a j railway system in a country having the configuration of this Dominion. (3) The only way of removing the diffi- | c.ulty permanently would be bv easing | the grade of the line, but it is not proposed to take any action in this direc- ' tion at present as this would involve | a heavy outlay without commensurate j return.