Small rail tunnels hurting Taranaki's development

NEW PLYMOUTH - Railway tunnels leading in to Taranaki are too small to cope with modern day containers and are curtailing economic development, say industry leaders.

Many tunnels, including the Kai Iwi on the region's main New Plymouth to Marton line, are too low to allow larger freight containers favoured by exporters to pass through them.

The larger 2.9m (high cube) containers are becoming more popular and rail traffic is increasing along with the Government's push for a return to rail.

Taranaki Regional Council operations director Dex Knowles, of Stratford, said the restricted tunnel portal size was a major barrier for the region's transport network.

"We can get them (the large containers) in by sea but can't get them out by rail.

"We are making it as plainly clear as we can (to the Ministry of Transport) that the condition of the Stratford-Taumarunui line and the Kai Iwi tunnel are major impediments to future development and place a substantial restriction to rail linkages in and out of the region."

Westgate Port Taranaki chief executive Roy Weaver, of New Plymouth, said the port and region's economic future and the push to develop a trans-Tasman container ship link relied on good road and rail connections.

Talks with national rail operators, Ontrack, had been arranged in two weeks' time to outline the port's concerns, he said.

"We are very keen to see those tunnels increased in size. The North Island is littered with tunnels which stop the rail operating efficiently."

For instance, the Napier to New Plymouth lines had about five tunnels on them where the high cube containers had to be taken off the train, put on a truck and then put back on the train on the other side.

The pressure was on because the use of the high cubes, currently about 10 per cent to 30 per cent of container trade, was increasing, he said.

The bigger containers were understandably popular because they could take up to 20 per cent more cargo, depending on the weight.

"Exporters are wanting to put more and more in there," Mr Weaver said.

If the Stratford-Taumarunui line was upgraded it would be a very valuable link to Hamilton and Auckland.

New Plymouth was only five hours from the main centres by car, he said.

"Imagine if we got a train service that was that efficient," Mr Weaver said.

Ontrack communications adviser Kevin Ramshaw, of Wellington, said there was investigative work in progress on widening the Kai Iwi tunnel but no funding for the project had yet been approved.

There were no restrictions on the size of containers or wagons that used the Stratford-Taumarunui line -- but there were speed restrictions.

"There are no current plans to carry out work that would allow these to be lifted," Mr Ramshaw said.

It was not seen as high priority as there was currently only one train a day using the line and its 24 tunnels, he said.

Allocation of funding for lines in Taranaki would be determined as part of the 10-year plan that Ontrack is required to prepare as part of the National Rail Strategy, Mr Ramshaw said.

Mr Knowles said it was important to point out to Government how vital the region's east-west line was to the national network.

The line became a detour for the main trunk line when it was closed between Taumarunui or Marton, he said.

The New Plymouth District Council's representative on the Regional Land Transport Committee, Barry Finch, said there were real issues for Taranaki in the state of the region's rail network.

Major work was needed if Taranaki was going to be economically competitive in future.

- nzpa