PURPOSE: To shorten the length of a free-travel section of a web as small as possible and to impart a comparatively large tension in the longitudinal direction when the web enters a first dryer group of a drying section.

CONSTITUTION: This device is intended to transport the web from a press section to the drying section of a papermaking machine. The web directly are in contact with a press surface 11 and advances together with this the press surface toward a feeding position 5 through a press slit 8. A porous belt 13, which transports the web in the direction of the first dryer group 17 to 19, travells after passing through the feeding position. The dryer group has a series of drying cylinders 18 and a single support belt 17 which guides the web from cylinders to cylinders. A first driving device M1 is arranged in relation to a press member forming the press slit, and a second driving device M2 and a third driving device M3 are arranged in relation to the transport belt and the first dryer group respectively. A slight difference in speed is adjustable between the first driving device and the second driving device by the use of a speed controller 40 and many times larger difference in speed is adjusted between the second driving device and the third driving device.