TRAIN MISHAP

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20915, 21 September 1939, Page 11

TRAIN MISHAP

REFERENCE TO COMPLAINTS ARRANGEMENTS DEFENDED (Special to Times) TAUMARUNUI, Wednesday Referring to a report which alleged inconvenience to passengers after the train mishap near Ihe Tuhua station, when a goods train and an express collided in a tunnel, the general manager of railways, Mr G. H. Macklev, stated today that he wished to comment on some of the information con veyed. “The New Plymouth-Auckland express,” said Mr Macklev, “left New Plymouth at 7.10 p.m. and a stop of nine minutes was made at Whangamomona, where the majority of the passengers had refreshments. The accident happened at 12.25 a.m., when the train was within 24 miles of Taumarunui, and all of the 122 passengers were transhipped into buses or taxles and sent on to Taumarunui between 3.45 and 6.30 a.m.

“Both trains were observing the speed restrictions of six miles an hour required on the portion of the track they were negotiating at the time, and the impact was slight.” Mr Mackley referred to the minor nature of the damage and the fact that the line was cleared before noon. Little Difficulty ‘‘No part of any vehicle came into contact with the tunnel, which is quite a short one,” he continued, ”and when the first bus arrived passengers who could be accommodated in it had little difficulty in walking through the tunnel and across to a good sled track, which connected by easy gradient with the road below. The whole of the bus and taxi accommodation available in Taumarunui was engaged for the work of transporting passengers and luggage and the railway refreshments rooms were specially kept open at Taumarunui for the convenience of passengers arriving from the New Plymouth express.

”The- f.rst contingent of these arrived at 4.45 a.m. and the last at 7.40 a.m. There was thus ample opportunity for passengers to obtain refreshments under comfortable conditions before the train left Taumarunui at 8.10 a.m. and thereafter the usual stops were observed for refreshments. The guard of the express advised passengers very shortly after the accident that buses would be sent to take them on, and passengers were able to settle down comfortably in the steam-heated cars to wait their arrival. Relief Train Impracticable “The location of the accident made the use of a relief train to pick up passengers there quite impracticable. After the first lot of passengers had been sent on by bus arrangements were made to take the car with the remaining 66 passengers back a mile and a-half to Tuhua station, where transhipping could be carried out much more conveniently. Thus, when the second bus and taxis arrived, these ■passengers were all transhipped in seven minutes. “I am satisfied,” concluded Mr Mackley, “that the best arrangements possible were made by Ihe department’s officers to meet the emergency with the least inconvenience to passengers, and the experience of iny staff is that they received no complaints from passengers, who appreciated the difficulties of the situation and the efforts made to relieve them.”