The Campaign For Better Transport

The Otago Daily Times reports KiwiRail will keep sponsoring Chris Cairn’s rail safety trust, despite the trust losing $94,000 last year.

The Railway Gazette International reports:

KiwiRail is call tenders early in the New Year for the supply of up to 114 electric multiple-unit cars for Auckland, following the cabinet’s approval of a NZ$500m loan on November 24.

The first of the 1 067 mm gauge EMUs will enter service on the Eastern and Western suburban lines in 2013. Auckland Regional Transport Authority will also lease up to 13 electric locomotives to haul ex-British Rail SA and SD coaches on the Southern Line.

Interestingly, the article also states that “the operation of suburban trains in Auckland and Wellington will be put out to tender.” Does that mean KiwiRail is exiting public transport in Wellington as well, since Auckland’s services are already contracted out to Veolia?

The New Zealand Herald reports Hamilton City Council has stated the a three-year proposed trail of Silver Fern railcar services between Hamilton and Auckland would need a subsidy of more than $1 million a year. The council said a subsidy was not affordable and Nigel Parry from KiwiRail said yesterday that the service had to be viable and would not be run at a loss.

After the bad news on the mothballing of Stratford to Okahukura line, here’s some good news from KiwiRail on the Napier – Gisborne line.

NZPA reports:

Mainfreight continues to be disappointed at the Government’s attitude and commitment to rail freight services in this country.

The logistics company believes it is among Kiwirail’s top five customers and would double its spend if it got the right rate and services.

“We don’t seem to have a lot of dialogue with (Transport Minister Steven) Mr Joyce on what our thoughts are on rail and would like to have more,” Mainfreight managing director Don Braid said.

Press Release from the Campaign For Better Transport

Transport lobby group the Campaign for Better Transport today announced concern over KiwiRail’s decision last week to mothball the rail line between Taranaki and the Waikato.

“We fear that this could be the thin edge of the wedge, with more line closures to come,” said Jon Reeves, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Better Transport.

As a consequence of the closure, milk product sourced from Fonterra farms in Taranaki and bound for Tauranga will now travel hundreds of kilometres further, via Marton rather than directly from Stratford.

“As a country we are supposed to be focussed on improving the efficiency of freight and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.  It doesn’t make sense to delay the decision on reopening the line until next year.”

KiwiRail CEO Jim Quinn announced last week that repairing the line in the wake of a recent derailment, at a cost of $400,000 cannot be immediately justified, “given that only one return train uses the line a day at present.”

But Mr Reeves points out that the reason the line has little use at present is that the track is in such poor condition.  “It has been so run down over the last decade that trains are barely capable of using it. If the line was fixed to a suitable standard then freight and passengers could take advantage a direct link between Taranaki and the Waikato.”

There have been at least seven reported derailments in the last year on the rail link, which runs from Stratford to Okahukura, just north of Taumaranui.

“We agree with the need to close the line temporarily so that the necessary repairs can be carried out safely,” said Mr. Reeves, “but we would like to see a commitment from KiwiRail and the Government to reopening the line as soon as  possible.”

Mr. Reeves acknowledged that the final bill for bringing the line up to standard could well be over a million dollars, but said that this amount was “peanuts in comparison to the billions being spent on roading infrastructure in this year alone.”

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An excellent letter to the editor of The Dominion Post today:

OPINION: KiwiRail will find it very difficult to ever make a profit while taxpayers and ratepayers heavily subsidise its competition – the trucking industry.

Minister of Transport Steven Joyce has just announced the new ownership and operating model for metro commuter rail services in Auckland and Wellington. In a nutshell:

• KiwiRail subsidiaries will own the rolling stock (that means neither ARTA or the Greater Wellington Regional Council will own rolling stock, as currently proposed);
• Train operators will lease the rolling stock and operate services. This differs from the status quo in that Veolia currently operates Auckland’s rail services under contract to ARTA, while Tranz Metro in Wellington is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KiwiRail.

The model looks a little bit like the current system in the United Kingdom, minus franchises. This model has had mixed success, while passenger numbers on rail transport is up in the UK, overall service quality has decreased (although some argue that the correlation is related – poorer service results from higher demand, due to underinvestment during Government ownership).

The full paper is available at the Ministry of Transport.