Finance Minister Nicola Willis on her 2024 Budget. Video / Mark Mitchell
KiwiRail says the 2024 Budget’s $159 million allocation to complete Auckland’s rail network rebuild will enable it to improve the condition of the network and “help ensure reliable trains for commuters”.
$107m was also allocated in the Budget to overdue track renewals in Auckland and Wellington and assistance covering localcouncil contributions, said the national rail operator, a state-owned enterprise.
The Government’s Budget invested a total of $466m in rail.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said the allocation highlighted a commitment to reliable public transport in Auckland and Wellington and supporting export growth nationally.
In the Budget, a total of $2.68 billion for roads, rail and public transport was announced to unlock economic growth. Targets covered by the funding include 17 new Roads of National Significance, as well as funding for the Rail Network Investment Programme.
The Budget boosted the Land Transport Fund with an additional $1b in capital funding, more than was previously signalled, to accelerate the construction of the Roads of National Significance.
Reidy said the rail network rebuild was “addressing the highest-priority issues and is crucial for allowing more frequent trains across the city once the City Rail Link opens in 2026″.
“We have already completed rebuild work on the core network, and the funding in Budget 2024 will allow us to finish the job, replacing ageing track foundations and improving drainage on the outer parts of the metro network.
“In addition, the Government has committed funding to cover other needed historic track renewals in both Auckland and Wellington and is topping up Auckland Transport (AT) and Greater Wellington Regional Council’s (GWRC) annual contribution to network maintenance for the coming financial year (FY25),” Reidy said.
The road freight industry welcomed the Budget’s $2.68b of additional investment in the national transport system over four years.
Transporting New Zealand interim chief executive Dom Kalasih said the investment was “desperately needed” and would make roads safer, more efficient and fit for the future.
“This will have a positive impact on the road freight sector, and all Kiwi families and businesses,” he said.
The national industry organisation represents 1200 individual road freight transport companies with a combined fleet of 14,000 vehicles.
Transporting NZ interim chief executive Dom Kalasih.
“Transporting New Zealand is also pleased to see the Budget take a fiscally responsible approach that will moderate inflation and interest rates, despite this resulting in some tough spending decisions. Our members are making difficult financial choices and focussing on the fundamentals, and it’s appropriate that the Government is doing the same.”
Kalasih said the organisation would be reporting to its members on what the details of the Budget meant for their businesses.
“For example, cuts affecting the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority will stop the Low Emissions Transport Fund Freight Decarbonisation Grants programme that would have helped get more zero-emission trucks on the road.
“This will be a disappointment to road freight businesses [which] would have used this co-funding to add zero-emission vehicles to their fleets, practically supporting industry decarbonisation efforts.”
KiwiRail’s Reidy welcomed the Budget’s additional funding for the national rail network, through the next Rail Network Investment Programme (RNIP).
“Over the last three years, we have been focused on raising the standard of our national rail network, and the Government commitment in Budget 2024 will help us continue that work,” he said.
“Rail carries 25 per cent of exports, and upgrading our rail lines will contribute to the Government’s goal of growing New Zealand’s export economy.
“The $200m top-up for the RNIP lifts the next two years of committed funding for the national network to around $900m, meaning similar levels of funding to now will continue. We have new locomotives and wagons arriving in the next few years to replace much of our ageing fleet.”
The RNIP would be finalised and approved by Minister of Transport Simeon Brown later this year, Reidy said.
