The Low Level Route.

The low level route would ascend from the Sumner Valley by an incline of 1 in 200, 75 chains long, to the mouth of a tunnel under Evans Pass. This tunnel would be 1,320 yards in length, and would carry the line on an inclination of 1 in 200 to Gollan's Bay, where, according to the plans, it appears to stop. The length of this line, from Christchurch to Gollan's Bay, would be nine miles 16 chains, and the amount of tunnelling 2,253 yards. There are no detailed plans for carrying on this line from Gollan's Bay to Port Lyttelton, but presuming it is essential to carry it on, the line would probably skirt the shore in a rocky side cutting for a length of 50 chains, would then pass by a tunnel 110 yards long into Polhill's Bay; would cross the bight of that bay by 30 chains of cutting and embankment (or possibly viaduct) and, passing by a tunnel 946 yards long under Sticking Point, emerge at the level of the Lyttelton Quays east of the jetty, and enter a station ten chains further on. On this supposition the line would be in length 10 miles 60 chains from Christchurch, and would involve tunnelling to the extent of 3,309 yards, besides some difficult side cuttings.