NAPIER MAIL TRAIN

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10641, 23 May 1912, Page 5

NAPIER MAIL TRAIN

PROPOSED DIVERSION TO WAI- - LINE.

Among the many questions which are at present agitating 'the minds of those controlling the Railway Department is ia proposition for further consideration of a scheme wheroby greater aise may he 'made of Wairarapa line between Wellington and Napra;. Briefly, it t has been proposed that the Napier mail train should again be diverged through the old route which leads over tthe Rimutaka, and wten the work of relaying a section betivcen Ektahuna and Mauriceville is completed, the question will! be tihoroughly gonle into. The idea is. to transfer a bigger iand 'more powerful class of locomotive (U.A.) over to the Wairarapa line and run a faster service than now between Napier and Cross Creek. At 'present this run between- Napier and Cross Creek, 172 miles, occupies (with .stoppages) 8i ihours, or an average of 205 •miles per hour. With a better and more powerful type of looomotive, the journey could probably bo out down iby 75 minutes, and with a futher shortening of the run from the Summit into Wellington, tlhe u-ain would arrive dn Wellington in ample time to catch the Christchurch boat.

The distance between Napier and Wellington, via Wairarapa, is 210 miles, and the time occupied on the trip is now lQhrs 50mius, the average being 19 3-13tihs males per hour.' The distance bbtween Napier and Wellington, via Manawatu, is, 199 miles, and the time taken on the journey is yhrs 32mins, an average of about 2\\ miles per hour. It is a known fact amongst the railway authorities that the Napier mail train between Palmlerston North and Wellington, and between' Wellington and Palmerston North has never paid. Its loss, in fact, rims into many-thous-ands per ammim. With the advent of •i3ie~Main Trunk serviceV patronage on Hie Napier mail from Wellingtoni has steadily declined. If a second express is run from Wellington to Auekiland it is easy to understand that the passenger traffic on the Napier train would be confined wholly to HawkeV !Bay travellers. From it-lie Woodville end there is also the New Plymouth connection at Palmerston North, and possibly, whenthe Mokoia viaducts are completed, faster, engines will mean a shorter service also on this route. The elimination of tlhe Napier express from the Manawatu would mean the saving of two" full tnain services between. Wellington and Palmerston North eviery day. Ait the same time it would relieve the Palmerston. North railway station, and the officiate of a large amount of congestion which a* present is an inconvenience to a big junction place badly fitted for the work. The nightmare'of accident-is also an ever-recurring anxiety to the responsible officials. With the diversion <f the Napier express through the WaiTarapa the valley would be rehabilitated,'and would again possess ihe old services of which it was deprived a few years ago. —Dominion.