Rail study findings are just too rosy

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Re: Let's do this, February 14 story.

Things just don't stack up to me as I read all these reports about reinstating the railway.

Is BERL telling the KiwiRail chief executive that work needs to start on the Gisborne to Wairoa rail link by April 2020 to have it ready by the summer season 2021-22, for a cost of $30 million?

It took two-and-a-half years to reopen the Napier to Wairoa line, where there was very little damage compared to the Gisborne to Wairoa line. Reinstating the Napier to Wairoa line cost $6 million-plus.

I would have thought that for a $600,000 report I would have seen a swarm of engineers going up the Kopuawhara Valley assessing rebuilds and repairs to the line.

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I agree with Rick Thorpe (Tairawhiti Rail Ltd) wanting the line open to take the huge volume of containers and logs etc, and take trucks off the road.

I'm just saying it will take four to five years and cost about $200m to open the line in a safe, resilient condition. Then it will take years to get a profit, if it ever does.

That doesn't matter if it takes pressure off the roads, but huge costs will continue for road maintenance.

I would think the best way around this issue is for TRL to get a public meeting going, invite BERL representatives and explain their $30m cost estimate.

Don't expect KiwiRail to cover all the bill, the Government should commit as this is a disaster like an earthquake or flooding.

I see the steering committee met four times over the six months. If you haven't travelled the line like I have (three times), how do you know how bad the damage is and what the cost will be?

I have also been into the headwaters of the Kopuawhara from the Whararata forest and seen the damage to the rail link. It has been seven years, going into eight years. A heap of money down the drain; $2 million spent on the gate houses.