A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
KiwiRail expects to start moving logs on the Napier-Wairoa line in spring, says chief operating officer Todd Moyle.
The forestry sector had had a strong recovery as Covid restrictions eased, said Mr Moyle.
There was a significant “wall of wood” to be moved from the Wairoa region once the scheduledharvest began in spring.
Mr Moyle was responding to a query about log hub freight movement from Wairoa and that there had been 12 trains (six return trips) since the line reopened at the end of January and before logging operations were shut down because of Covid-19 in China.
“We anticipate restarting moving logs on the Napier-Wairoa line, with 65,000 tonnes twice a week (the equivalent of 88 truck trips between Napier and Wairoa), building to 220,000 tonnes five days a week,” said Mr Moyle. “KiwiRail has not increased its freight rate for logs at the Wairoa hub since it opened for log trains earlier this year.”
The Wairoa-to-Napier rail link resumed transporting log freight in January after the Government's Provincial Growth Fund invested $6.2 million to reopen the mothballed rail line, which was closed after significant storm damage in 2012. — Wairoa Star
