BLOCK ON MAIN TRUNK LINE

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 22 December 1916, Page 5

BLOCK ON MAIN TRUNK LINE

TRAIN RUNS INTO A SLIP. AUCKLAND, Dec. 21. Owing to slips on the Main Trunk line, the express to Palmerston leaving at 7 p.m. was cancelled, and both the evening south-bound trains were also cancelled. The Department decided to despatch a special to the scene of the slip—btween Paerata and Runeiman, 25 miles south of Auckland—at 2.30 a.m. to-morrow. Passengers will there be transferred to another train and conveyed to Pukekohe, at which station two Wellington to Auckland expresses are held up. One of these will return to Wellington with passengers and mails from Auckland. It is expected that it will take a week to clear the slip. AUCKLAND, Later. The slip on the Main Trunk line near Runeiman is more serious than was at first supposed. About four thousand tons;,of earth, displaced by the slip, fell in front of the express from Rotorua to Auckland. The ' train ploughed its way into the slip with great force, the engine being forced 15 feet in .the air. where it remained. Three carriages were derailed. The passengers, were shaken, but none injured. Subsequently tlie train was removed from the danger zone. The passengers had an unenviable experience in reaching the relief train, which was sent from Auckland. It will fake a week to clear the slip. The train timetable is uncertain and the service disorganised. a . On enquiry at the local raihfeiy station, we learn that a train from Auckland will arrive at Taihape between 5 and 6 this evening.