The northern section of what is a freight rail route, but has regular excursion train traffic, has been closed for nearly six months since being badly damaged in a storm.
In a business case published on its website, KiwiRail claims neither
the full line nor the southern section from Napier to Wairoa will be
commercially viable for the foreseeable future. It says reinstating the track would cost about $4 million and even if
demand for freight services was to be generated locally, the cost of
maintaining it would far exceed any potential revenue.
However, Gisborne MP Moana Mackey (Labour) says "mothballing" is just a softer way of saying closure, a claim which KiwiRail denies for political purposes.
As we have commented before, this is one of NZ's most scenic railway routes and could easily support a regular tourist-travel train, and industry in the region wants the line to remain for freight traffic.
The private short line option, which commercial interests in the region are looking at, now seems essential.
Backward Government, backward thinking, taking the country backward in respect of what other countries are doing for future generations, the man is bland and has nothing up top except number crunching, typical of Keys cabinet all hell bent on false promises and ruining NZ forever.I seriously would leave if younger and had no family here.
ReplyDeletebecause Steven Joyce made a few million for himself buying and selling radio stations, that somehow qualifies him to be number 4 in the Cabinet and in charge of "Economic Development". As has been commented about Romney in the US, that kind of business experience is the antithesis of running a country where decisions have to be made in a wider context for everybody and the country as a whole.
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