Farmers in the Gisborne region are adding their support to the mounting campaign to get the Napier-Gisborne rail line repaired and re-opened.
The line has been out of action since late March when storm damage caused washouts along a 3km stretch between Gisborne and Wairoa.
KiwiRail has estimated it would take five months and more than $4 million to fix it and is still assessing the long-term viability of the line, which has been running at a loss.
Gisborne and Hawke's Bay Councils are lobbying KiwiRail and the Government to keep the line operating and Federated Farmers has thrown its weight behind the campaign.
Gisborne-Wairoa president Hamish Cave says the amount it would cost to repair the railway line is nothing compared with the $1.6 billion Government-funded upgrade of the Auckland metro rail network.
He says it comes back to the economic viability of the province, and although farmers don't shift any stock by rail, they rely on the transport network to keep the province viable.
Mr Cave says items such as horticultural exports, logs and fertiliser could be moved by rail.
He also sees the potential to re-establish a dairy industry in the Gisborne region, but with the limitations on road transport it would need a rail service to carry milk.