Letters Re Northland Rail

If you'd like to submit a Letter to the Editor, use the following links to some of the newspapers available in Northland.

The New Zealand Herald

The Northern Advocate

The Whangarei Leader

The Bay Chronicle

Stuff: Local Newspapers The Rodney Times

Local Matters/Northern Matters/Mahurangi Matters

Mangawhai Focus ( Mangawhai )

The Bugle ( Kaiwaka )

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Adding letters to the Editor as we get them - most recent at the top

20110507 K Satherly : Letter To the Editor : Northern Advocate

Mothballing Rail Lines

Sometimes one has to stop , catch breath, make a decision and stuck into the fight.

Recently I've done this in regard to our railway, as Kiwi Rail's chairperson, Jim Quinn

plans to mothball the Auckland to Northland Line.

I joined Save Our Rail and immediately had the opportunity to gather signatures for the petition. attending the Growers Market for an early morning excursion.

I approached shoppers, explaining the situation, discovering the vast majority of people express

a deep disgust for this proposal.

We achieved over 230 signatures in just a few hours, boosting the overall petition to over 3000.

Also, other lines are proposed for mothballing, Napier to Gisborne, Northern Wairarapa, Stratford to Okahukura and Christchurch to Picton, - the trans-coastal service.

I don't understand the logic behind the conclusion to mothball.

What about long term sustainability in the face of rising fossil fuel prices, safety of roads with

increasing numbers of logging trucks and more heavy haulage vehicles when the line is closed, compromising opportunities for future growth of industry and tourism ?

Why aren't most logs on rail and coastal shipping?

Why not run a cycle way beside the rail corridor ? - it's wide enough , and why do we not understand that rail is eight times more efficient than road?

I feel the work of our ancestors, for our benefit, is being ripped up before our very eyes.

If you would like the help then contact Vivienne Shepherd, Save Our Rail co-ordinator at

Eco-Solutions, 3 Bank Street, 438 8710. Or visit.

www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/main-trunk-line/north-island-main-trunk-line

20110507 Owen Farnham's Letter to the Editor : Northern Advocate

Save Rail

I would like to support and endorse Vivienne Shepherd's Guest View.

I have been told on very good authortiy that the Government had already bouth the land from Oakleigh parallel to State Highway 1 along the mudflats to the food Winstone Johns Hill.

The soil from the cut-ins will supply the dirt for the mangrove fill-in running parallel to State Highway 1 .

Then they have to go from John's property right through to the end of Flyger Road, and from then on they have to go through a gap between Bell View and the Takahiwai Range.

From then on it strikes the One Tree Point Road and has a clear run right down to the port.

Also, I have been told that they have built Winstone Johns a brand new house on another part of his farm and I'm positive that it's not just a rumour.

Owen Farnham

Kataia

20110503

Whangarei Leader

Save Rail

I recently learned there may be no more railway

I promptly felt abandoned so decided to make a stand.

On the weekend I stood up in front of the masses swarming through the Growers Market.

There was such a feeling of disgust as people realised the fate of our rail.

It was easy to colect 230 signatures in only a few hours.

Did you know four railway lines in New Zealand are being proposed to be closed?

Here are some good reasons to keep them running.

Long term sustainability
Keeping our roads safe
The future growth of our industries.
Tourism
Logs by rail
A cycleway will sit happily alongside the existing railway line as they were built wide enough for steam trains
Trains are eight times more efficient than wheels on the road

Railway cottages are still part of our living history.

The 'Silver Star' passenger train was just one beauty that was a feature of our professional lives, a means of getting to meetings Wellington and Auckland.

With en suites and showers and a restuarant carriage to boot.

So if anyone else is feeling like their history is being ripped up, join Save Our Rail, like I did, and help keep our trains running.

Contact Eco Solutions. 3 Bank Street, ( 09)438-8710

Bonny Faulkner-Alexander

Whangarei

Run-down rail line

24th of February 2011 : Northern Advocate : Letters to the Editor

Over the years, successive governments have let the Northern Rail Line run down to an extent where the public could be easily persuaded to have it mothballed.

Negativity still dominates a lot of official thinking on this topic.

NZ Rail cannot effectively grow its freight business because many of the 13 tunnels are too small for international containers and, without a container rail link,

Marsden Point as a container port has future.

Northland Harbour Board members of old would have been pounding at the corridors of power at the Beehive years ago if they were still around but the current Northland Port Co seems to be a paper tiger , ready to roll over and deny Northland the development of one of its greatest assetts, a major container port, that must come into its own as ship sizes

continue to increase.

We have a Goverment talking of spending billions on the co-called Holiday Highway to Wellsford and millions on the Penlink from Whangaparaoa to the North Shore for a few thousand commuters but reluctant to put its hand in its pocket for a few hundred million to upgrade tunnels and introduce new commencial possiblities to the north.

With the price of deisel ever increasing , the cost of rail freight declines in proportion to road haulage so why continue to invest in a transport system such as heavy

long-haul trucking that may become uneconomic in a decade or so.

The ordinary motorist to a large degree subsidises trucking through road and other taxes.

So Railtrack needs an additional $5 million to break even, it's chicken feed in modern transport costs and the far greater cost the community would be to see the thousands of tonnes of logs and other freight now handled by rail end up on our roads.

Northlanders will of course , be able to exercise their feelings on this subject at the next election in November.

Roy Vaughan

Mangawhai.

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W.Gordon Bonetti

22nd of February , 2011

Mothballing Northland Rail Line

In response to Rosemary Roberts report( Advocate 16/2/011) on last Tuesdays meeting between KiwiRail’s newly appointed CEO. Jim Quinn & Northland Regional Council Transport Committee@ NRC’s offices in Whangarei,I offer the following comments.

1 ) Mr Quinn intimated with vauge figures($8-9million) “ that running costs almost equated with revenue & that the route was a barely used asset in terms of amount of investment.This begs the question,What investment?After TranzRails asset-stripping & Toll’s withdrawl of services & transfer of freight from the Otiria to Whangarei line onto their trucks, this section appears to have had almost no investment.(other than recent flood damage repairs)

2) In last year’s budget( which promulgated Govt’s questionable TurnAround Plan) they grudgingly granted only a paltry $260m to Rail, yet readily offered $21 billion (during time of recession)for new Highways.Road Carriers benefit greatly from this by paying only 50% of their road maintenance costs through Road User charges whilst Rail have to pay fully for their upkeep.The private motorists subsidize the other 50%.

3)Mr Quinn stated his job was to make KiwiRail viable nationwide & address issues of uneconomic routes,but offered little tangible proof Northland’s route was uneconomic.So, until we are provided with more accurate costings(which for equable comparison with Road exclude maintenance) we can assume that at least it is not losing money or KiwiRail wouldn’t be operating 2x Auckland return weekday freight services plus local services for dairy & logging operations.Does anyone ever ask ,“Considering the Billions Govt spends,how many NZ Highways are Economic? Perhaps by using a more Positive,Business approach with pro-active locally-based Business reps instead of 0800 Auckland based “ telephone jockeys”( waiting for business to magically appear)our North Rail could with a little more hard graft & less negativity ( from Govt.&top-management), soon return it to profit.

4) Perhaps (being a newly recruited CEO.from a Courier Co.) Mr Quinn may be unaware that the Basic function of all branch lines is to enable Rail customers as direct a service, as close as possible from the freight source to its destination.KiwiRail’s Turn- around Plan(= Govt’s Turnaround Plan) shows a Basic misunderstanding by Govt. of the Functioning & Economics of a Railway Network.Not all branch lines will be strictly economic in direct accounting terms but make a significant contribution to the profitability of Main trunk routes& thus the whole Network.Towns which become disengaged from the Rail network(if Northland closed) no longer have direct Rail access to it ,so freight has to start by truck & thus tends to continue by this mode.The less business the feeder routes provide,the less profit to the trunk routes.Can anyone imagine Air NZ cutting off most of their feeder services? I think not.So why is KiwiRail not considering the broader economic picture of retainingour 281km branch line(one of longest in NZ) & so keeping direct Rail access for future business from our main Northland towns to most other towns on the NZ Network.

5) The Negativity of last weeks visit will do little to “ increase the commercial possibilities around our region,”as Mr Quinn stated. But then he was only the messenger, as his master Mr Key was preaching the OPPOSITE message during his October 22 visit to Whangarei.He stated over Radio Northland News ZB, “The Government was committed to opening up Northland by investing in our Roads & Rail.Improving our Road & Rail links with Auckland was part of that.”He also said “The Marsden Point rail link is still on his radar.”Perhaps the mixed messages have confused local MPs Phil Heatley& John Carter into silence? I notice Greens Gareth Hughes, Democrats Ken Goodhue,& Labours Kelvin Davis, Shane Jones& Pat Newman have been attending meetings throughout the North& speaking positively about Retaining our Rail link because of its importance to Northland’s future Growth & to cover the World Oil shocks about to come from the present turmoil in the African & Gulf Oil states.

Looking forward to this becoming an Election issue! W.Gordon Bonetti

15th of January , 2011

We own rail, so let's use it wisely

In support of the statements made by Alistair Goodland and Vivienne Shepherd: Much has been said about the future of rail in the north, mostly by those who seem to be trying to make either political or personal gain.

The fact is that rail is not a competitor for road transport but is a viable form of bulk transport which currently saves 3000 truck movements per week and carries more than 1000 nett tonnes per day.

This helps reduce traffic congestion and wear and tear on our roads, keeping them safer for all to use.

A number of peple in the past have been calling the very peple who own this asset to support the idea of closure.

This our asset that we and past generation have bought and paid for. it is not a consumable item to be used and discarded; it is a tool to use to support future growth in the region. Should we not be calling for the people we vote in to make more use of this asset we own, after all, if they cannot get a small, publicly owned railway to work, how can we expect them to be able to run a town, city or country.

Jeff Barker. Riverside.

Save the Rail ( Mahurangi Matters September 2010 )

Cooltrainz On Track ( Rodney Times 2009 )