There's been frustrations expressed about KiwiRail mothballing the Northern Explorer passenger rail service between Auckland and Wellington at a time when domestic tourism is strong.
Thomas Nash of the New Zealand Alternative think tank told Jesse Mulligan now is not the time to retreat from regional and inter-city rail transport.
Northern Explorer crossing the Hapuwhenua Viaduct Photo: Supplied / KiwiRail
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“I do think it’s worth pointing out that regional rail and rail to link our cities has been going in the wrong direction in this country for a long time.
“And at a time when this current government has put a lot more investment into the rail network it does seem odd that we wouldn’t be rushing back to getting these rail links up.”
It’s a climate imperative and a regional imperative to restore the line, he says. And statements from KiwiRail about it not being viable depend on what price you put on carbon emissions.
“The way financial viability is assessed in today’s world doesn’t really take into account carbon emissions, so it looks like planes are cheap but if you took into account the real cost then they wouldn’t be so cheap.
“So, I think the point of regional rail and intercity rail links is that in the end it is inevitable because we cannot keep flying around and polluting the atmosphere in the way we’re doing.”
Now is the time to invest, he says.
“We’ve got a huge Covid recovery fund and a huge infrastructure spend, so now is the time to be getting ourselves up to speed so we can link our cities with fast reliable rail services. And I’m confident that people will use them once they’re there.
“It should be daily service really, you could also go for a sleeper train, it’s the right distance between Auckland and Wellington for sleeper train.”
Embracing tilt train technology would also allow the train to go faster, he says.
“On the line between Brisbane and Cairns they tilt 5 degrees in the turn and they can go up to 160kms and the rest of the line you could go along at 110kms.
"You could start to make Auckland to Hamilton an hour and a half or so and Wellington to Palmerston North in a similar time, so you’d start to compete certainly with driving.”
Once a service disappears, it is difficult to reinstate it, Nash says.
“Which country in the world right now is saying let’s scrap our passenger services and just go back to flying? It’s not a credible option.”