Subscribe to RSSFuture Of Lines Not Hopeful
While money is being poured into Northland roading, KiwiRail says it will be addressing the future of the North Auckland line north from Helensville from early in the New Year.
And it’s not looking at all promising and nor is it for the future of the Napier-Gisborne line.
Last week an East Coast forestry company being courted to use the line announced it would delay building a multi-million dollar timber processing plant.
KiwiRail CEO Jim Quinn told the company’s staff newsletter the decision will impact the company’s thinking and plans.
“Hikurangi Forest Farms was clearly one of the opportunities that was identified as a possibility for volume growth and probably it has been assumed to be the largest.”
“We are still working with the region to identify possibilities for expanding traffic on the line and this information will be factored into those discussions. It will remain open until those discussions are finalised.
“We don’t want to drag this out once there is no new information. However at the latest if there is no way to keep the line open we would want to have finalised discussions by late 2011 so that the work to mothball it can be completed in the first half of 2012.”
Jim Quinn said KiwiRail could move faster if there is no new information developing.
As for the North Auckland Line , Mr Quinn called it the most complex of the minor lines.
“The segments Auckland to Whangarei, Dargaville line, North of Whangarei and the possible line to North Port all need to be understood separately.
“KiwiRail is ensuring it has information that it can share easily to discuss each group and will begin engaging with communities. We intend to engage fully early in 2011 so that there can be good engagement through that year if required.”
Jim Quinn says there is a significant gap between the revenues and the capital requirement for this group of lines.
11 Comments
This is outrageous, the failure to invest in these lines for decades has stacked up the debit side of the ledger so the simple demand of finance 101 can make these lines look unsupportable. This is a fit up by some one prepared to pour 2 Billion to take 5 minutes off the Northland run for the competition. 5 more minutes at the pie shop then. Outrage dressed up as common sense.
I have to hand to Steven Joyce, Minister of Trucking. The donations to his political party by the trucking lobby DOES HAVE A HUGE part to play in this decision.
Joyce - got $2 billion for the PUFORD highway extension, but not a couple of million for these rail lines.
There IS one way you can SAVE these rail lines next year.
They could try a passenger service but I think when they did have one it took four hours to get to Whangarei. So it didn’t really catch on. Without any reason to go north, whats the point of the line anyway?
Its a pity that the northland line never made it to Pihia or Kerikeri as tourism to the Bay of Islands would ensure the line’s success in much the same way as the Greymouth line.
A line to the bay of Islands would be so beneficial if it were in place as a tourism draw-card. The Marsden point to Auckland freight line would be so good it’s weird why it comes up against a brick wall? How many more trucks do we need wrecking roads and killing us?
The line did make it all the way to the Bay of Islands. It stops just short now in Otiria. The line is otherwise mothballed.
Meanwhile $100 is poured into investigating the $2 billion Holiday Highway. If this line was upgraded it would take a lot of the trucks off Northland’s roads and make passenger rail up north quite possible.
That’s $100 million!
@Urban C - unfortunately the mothballed section north of Otiria to the BOIVR has been lifted in the last few years. I understand a Rail Trail is under construction involving this and the old Okaihau Branch.
The line did go all the way to Opua once but the demise of the port I believe meant the demise of the line for the NZR
@Urban Local - unfortunately the mothballed section north of Otiria to the BOIVR has been lifted in the last few years. I understand a Rail Trail is under construction involving this and the old Okaihau Branch.
The line did go all the way to Opua once but the demise of the port I believe meant the demise of the line for the NZR
The line north was intended to go to Kaitaia I understand but stopped at Okaihau when the War started and the steel was required for tanks etc. The Nelson railway and the connection between Taneatua and Gisborne were probably the same.
When i was at school in the’50′s there was a daily “express” north which we caught on a trip to the Bay of Islands. The train divided near Kaikohe, half to Okaihau and half to Opua through Kawakawa. An interesting trip but it took a long time. In those days the north road was slower than today, for a start traffic went over the ferry or through Riverhead.
Billions have been subsequently spent on the road including a harbour bridge and the railway is little changed, just deteriorated, and the northern end ripped up