KiwiRail Renaming of Brands & Divisions

[Rail-it]

So to from Auckland to Wellington by train I'll catch the Northern Explorer

I'm actually quite keen to try the new service but I wasn't to keen on using The Overlander again due to its slow timetable and boring as hell lunch break at Ohakune.

I don't think the lunch break has even been removed has it? It's just the stops that have been removed which make the 25-30min reduction in running times...
I suppose if they did reduce the lunch break it would shave 1hr off the current running time.... and I say shave, because the train would still wait at those stops for 10-15 mins, as with my propostion, the catering staff would board the train at Taumarunui or Taihape and take the orders on board(payment also). Of course they would have to at least reinstate Taumarunui and Taihape then too

[duddley]

I thought the service had been trimmed down to ten and a half hours?

[geoff_184]

I thought the service had been trimmed down to ten and a half hours?

I think it's closer to 11 hours? They have retained the 90 odd minutes of redundant time, and 30 minute lunch break, so it's still two hours slower than it could be.

[eurokiwi78]

Wouldnt it be great if the record time set in the 60s was the current scheduled time, just over 8hours.

[pickle]

Come on Kiwi Rail this is pathetic. Every time I've been on the Overlander we have had at least 1.5 hours in total for so called "operational stops" that should be easily removed. The break at Ohakune / National Park was really annoying and is not needed and then another 20 minutes in the middle of the line for a staff change, which I guess is needed but surely they could slightly offset the departure times of the trains so that they meet at a station? We could have got at least the time reduction without cutting any stops by cutting these.

And then I reckon we could easily gain at least another 1.5 hours by cutting out some of those "temporary" speed restrictions and some line upgrades. If we wanted to we could three hours out of it in total in my opinion, and have a 9 hour travel and still keep all the stops. That would make the Overlander reasonably competitive with car and faster than bus. We could have a 2x a day return service. All we'd need is a small budget for these line upgrades ($40 million?) and some new carriages ($100 million?).

[locost_bryan]

Come on Kiwi Rail this is pathetic. Every time I've been on the Overlander we have had at least 1.5 hours in total for so called "operational stops" that should be easily removed. The break at Ohakune / National Park was really annoying and is not needed and then another 20 minutes in the middle of the line for a staff change, which I guess is needed but surely they could slightly offset the departure times of the trains so that they meet at a station? We could have got at least the time reduction without cutting any stops by cutting these.

And then I reckon we could easily gain at least another 1.5 hours by cutting out some of those "temporary" speed restrictions and some line upgrades. If we wanted to we could three hours out of it in total in my opinion, and have a 9 hour travel and still keep all the stops. That would make the Overlander reasonably competitive with car and faster than bus. We could have a 2x a day return service. All we'd need is a small budget for these line upgrades ($40 million?) and some new carriages ($100 million?).

Removing the speed restrictions is top of KRs to-do list, because it is a key part of reducing the AKL-CHC freight time.

[Rolls-Royce]

Interesting to note that not long after the renaming of KIwiRail Network to KiwiRail Infrastructure, KiwiRail announces that over 200 infrastructure jobs are to go.

[pickle]

It is very disappointing and annoying to hear of these job cuts. I understand this is in addition to the job cuts from Hillside?