Here is the link to last night's video on TV3 News. It seems the distinction between a locomotive and a train was lost on the reporter, but telling are the comments by Steven Joyce, the Minister for Big Trucks:
"This is a big challenge. I mean I've seen some challenges commercially in my time in the business sector but this is a biggie."
And the reporter then states, "KiwiRail's success depends on it becoming more competitive with road transport."
Wait a minute - aren't freight trains extremely competitive with road transport in the USA, so much so that despite only having a 28% market share in the USA, trucks take in a lot more revenue than the railroads? Why are they not competitive here then?
The answer is fairly obvious - trucks do not pay their fair share of the maintenance and development costs of roads in NZ. Maybe if they knew the facts, the country's motorists would start demanding that they stop subsidizing trucks and Mr Joyce's mates start paying a lot more.
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