KiwiRail confirmed in October that the service would close, saying the $4 million cost to repair the track after a storm in May was too expensive, as well as the $8 million a year to keep the line open.
But a new report, by Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL), has analysed the decision and questions the figures on which it is based.
TVNZ story and video
Just reading an international railway periodical, Israel, Turkey, China, USA, UK, Cuba, Russia, Australia, Spain, among several others all upgrading their rail systems. Down here we have a Government who fob it off putting the weight on the operator whilst throwing money out for mega roads we don't need if the infrastructure was correctly worked and incentive was given to get mega wheeled trucks onto rail with good distribution points at each terminal. We may be a small country but others are putting us to shame and have Governments who have some vision to seek the right people for their own countries future. Here they are only interested in self and a fat pay check.Shame shame shame Steven Joyce and Gerry Brownlee.
ReplyDeleteone of the major growth areas in rail freight in the USA has been in intermodal where truck trailers are transported for the major part of their journey aboard a well-wagon in a freight train. There is almost no such intermodal traffic in NZ.
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