Subscribe to RSSGovt $4.6b KiwiRail Plan
The Government today committed to invest $250 million to support a KiwiRail “turnaround plan.”
Minister Steven Joyce says it will help increase economic productivity and “put us on the path to faster growth”.
The Government has committed in principle to a total package of $750 million over the next three years, with final decisions on funding subject to individual business cases.
The Budget 2010 appropriation, announced ahead of Budget Day, is the first round of Government support for the objectives of the $4.6 billion Turnaround Plan.
“The KiwiRail Turnaround Plan is designed to see the rail freight business become sustainable within a decade by getting it to a point where it funds its costs solely from customer revenue,” says Mr Joyce.
“In fact, the lion’s share of the $4.6 billion will come from the business itself.
“The government investment reflects the fact the amount of freight being moved on New Zealand’s transport network will double by 2040 and all transport modes need to become more efficient to meet this demand.
“The government is committed to retaining and improving the rail freight network and is providing KiwiRail the capital investment to demonstrate it can become commercially viable and make a valuable contribution to the New Zealand economy.
“To do this, it will need to focus on the areas where it can increase revenue, become more efficient and carry more - primarily bulk and long distance freight.” Mr Joyce says stringent conditions for government funding will be set to make KiwiRail accountable to taxpayers.
“Funding, while committed in principle, will depend on meeting the government’s performance measures. “Achieving this turnaround will be a challenging process and requires the support of every KiwiRail customer and employee,” says Mr Joyce.
KIWIRAIL PLAN COVERAGE
Government says investment in rail will help when oil prices go up
Union says rail privatisation has been discounted
KiwiRail CEO on what the plan means
Labour calls plan miserly
Government confirms MetroRail fare increase
Mike Lee calls for more rail investment
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4 Comments
Hmmm, planning to close the NAL doesn’t really seem to fit with everything else, not with Marsden, Joyce seems very determined to protect Puhoi to Wellsford…
Especially when Northland’s long term transport plan specifically mentions the upgrading of the NAL to improve freight connections. I find the idea of putting all our eggs in the road basket for transport north of Auckland completely nonsensical.
Maybe a reverse sacrificial lamb? We all get hot and bothered about it, and meanwhile they close the other lines which don’t have a lot of enthusiasts and general supporters close by?
Of course that is the “conspiracy theory” model, so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt. Maybe they just want to close it anyway because they feel its just not worth keeping.
Amusing in that in TRL’s day it was thought that Auckland - Christchurch was the only profitable route. A couple of years into Toll’s reign they were talking the route down as being unprofitable.
The latest is that the NIMT is doing very well with diesel-electric hauled trains having to supplement the electric trains to keep up with the tonnage. I suspect that this is why the emphasis again on this route. It seems to be little noticed that part of the latest plan is to increase the rail capacity on the inter-island ferries. Kudos to KiwiRail and it’s employees for this turnaround.