Swap 'crazy roads' for private rail CEO

A private consortium to buy the Napier-to-Gisborne rail line is being mooted by Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce CEO Murray Douglas.

The line was closed from Wairoa to Gisborne after it was damaged by storms in March. KiwiRail has since been assessing options for the line's future, with repairs expected to cost about $4 million.

Mr Douglas, who was head of Dunedin City Holdings which had a half-share in the Taireri Gorge Railway, said the numbers to keep the Napier-Gisborne line open worked well.

"We know we have an extraordinarily efficient port in Napier and we know we have huge production coming out of the hills. So if KiwiRail won't do it then why don't we buy it? It requires courage, it requires vision, it requires focus but we can do it.

"Fixing the slips is the easy part of the decision, the hard part is the capital requirements for the next 10 years of the total rail line, given that some of the sleepers are a bit old and some of the bridges may need strengthening.

"It is inconceivable to have a massively productive part of New Zealand, as it is in the Hawke's Bay, without rail. To not have that option is short-sighted."

"Coastal shipping could work up to a point but the trans-shipment issues are huge and it won't deal with containers to the extent that we need."

He said with a wall of wood due to be harvested in the medium term a fibre-board plant would likely be situated in Gisborne, but only if it had rail.

Director of Wairoa's Clyde Lumber, John Ebbett, said the uncertainty of the line's future was harming long-term viability of the line and companies reliant on it. His company sends sawn timber by rail for processing in Ohinewai, north of Huntly.

"We have an opportunity where we can increase production and do all sorts of things but we are not wanting to look down that avenue until we have some kind of certainty around what's happening," he said.

"To me it's just stupid. If they are serious about getting back in there then they should have made that call."

There were not enough truck-and-trailer units in the district to ship his product nor processing capacity, making his business marginal with the likely loss of 22 jobs.

The indecision on the line's future was proving increasingly difficult, he said: "You have just got this thing hanging over your head."

Mr Douglas said KiwiRail was probably having "a hell of a problem" trying to work out what to do.

"They probably are arguing with the Government over putting the money into road or rail," Mr Douglas said.

"It is a very good question and I know people in Gisborne don't like the conversation, and certainly Hastings District doesn't like it because that's the money earmarked for Whakatu [roading project].

"Somewhere in the Ministry of Transport they will be saying to the Minister that to not have rail is just dopey, given the alternative is a crazy road which will never work for containers. Trucking a container 210km on those roads is just ludicrous."