would KiwiRail be better under private ownership?

"...based on an overall 15.3 percent year-over-year revenue gain, railroads gained market share last year, especially in intermodal, and did not experience the capacity problems faced by truckers."
 
"Investment by railroad operators for product and service improvement is far ahead of other transportation industries. Very few U.S. industries can match the railroad operators with respect to high capital investment rate. Investments in capacity, innovations and use of several state-of-the-art technologies led to service improvements and enhanced reliability." - zacks.com, February 2012

If this is happening in the USA, why isn't the same true in NZ?  Actually, trunk line volumes are increasing in NZ, but the difference is that as a result of interference from its hostile owners - the present Key government with its strong ties to the road construction and trucking industries - KiwiRail doesn't carry anything like the amount of freight that it could.

One answer would be to change the government at the next election; another is to consider the private enterprise model again.

The Bolger government privatised NZR in the early 1990s, but it wasn't a great success.  However, the reason for that was that the private consortium which bought it was headed by Messrs Fay and Richwhite, known for their shonky investment deals and their sole interest as co-owners of anything being to make a quick buck.

Why Bolger agreed to sell to a consortium headed by them is puzzling as he must have been aware of what Mr Fay had done to the Bank of NZ - in fact its imminent collapse was the first crisis he had to deal with upon becoming Prime Minister.  However, he did and the consequences are well known.

When the crumbling TranzRail (as it was then) was snapped up by trucking operators Toll Australia in 2003 things got even worse.  Toll wasn't interested in investing in rail equipment or infrastructure to the point where the Clark government felt compelled to buy the railways back in 2008, renaming the operation KiwiRail.

So if one of the big North American railroads was the owner/operator of KiwiRail would the amount of freight it carries substantially increase?  It seems very likely, despite the present government's favouring roads and big trucks. Improvement in capacity (for example, lines that can actually cope with longer heavier trains) and efficiency - and aggressive business strategy to get new customers - would certainly do that.