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15th February 2011

The Editor,

Northern Advocate

Whangarei

Road vs Rail

Dear Sir.

Listening to the CEO of KiwiRail at the NRC today was déjà-vu for me. Exactly the same approach was taken by National Coal Board management as they went through the motions whilst implementing the political decision to close down UK coal mines.

The poor economic performance of the rail freight services north of Auckland was explained, but a final decision won’t be made until mid-2012 (after the election) after KiwiRail has tried in vain to make a business case for keeping rail services into Northland open.

Nevertheless, it was obvious today that the political decision for closure of Northland’s railway has already been made in Wellington.

When Northland loses its rail services all freight will have to go by road - hence the expensive plans to 4-lane State Highway One.

Locking Northland into complete reliance on diesel-fuelled trucks will hamper our development.

Escalating diesel prices will evolve into real diesel shortages in NZ as Peak Oil hits home.

The loss of rail services, with their potential for energy efficient freight movement and electrification, will be a lost opportunity that Northlanders will rue.

Unless there is a change of Government in November, rail services into Northland will be “gone by lunchtime”.

Steve Goldthorpe

Energy Analyst, Waipu