Craig Foss: Turn rail line into a cycle track

The mothballed Napier-Gisborne rail line, near Westshore, Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Tukituki MP Craig Foss says Hawke's Bay Regional Council should not risk ratepayer money on plans to re-open the Napier-Gisborne rail line and should instead fund a study into the feasibility of turning the rail corridor into a cycle trail.

But the council says a cycle trail is not an option on the route at present because owner KiwiRail wants to keep it as a train line.

KiwiRail is seeking proposals from operators interested in taking up a "licence to occupy" the mothballed line, which has been closed since sections of the track were washed-out north of Wairoa in 2012.

The regional council has set aside $5.46 million to fund rail transport as part of its 10-year budget and is working to ensure interested businesses take up the current KiwiRail tender opportunity.

While no plans have been approved, the chairman of the council's regional transport committee, Alan Dick, said on Friday one option could be for the council to use its rail budget to fund repairs to the line, estimated at between $3.7 million and $4.5 million.

Mr Foss said taxpayers had invested significantly in KiwiRail already and he would be concerned if Hawke's Bay ratepayers were to face further financial exposure to the rail industry through an investment by the regional council.

The Napier-Gisborne line was hardly used for many years before the wash-outs and since the link was mothballed freight had "moved adequately" up and down the East Coast, with State Highway 2 being improved and further upgrades planned, he said. "As well intended as these [rail] ideas, projects and ambitions are, they inevitably end in tears," Mr Foss said.

He remained committed to an idea he promoted last year: that a study be done into the feasibility of turning the rail corridor into a tourist cycleway.

Regional council chairman Fenton Wilson said the council had a commitment to rail as an alternative transport option for the region.

"KiwiRail have put this tender out looking for rail-based opportunities. At the moment, it's a transport link for freight and, until that's put to bed - either by resumption by a private entity or they scrap it - the conversation about turning it into cycle trails is a moot point."

Last year the mayors of Napier, Hastings, Wairoa and Gisborne agreed to "fully support and endorse" a regional council bid to secure a lease of the rail corridor. Napier Labour MP Stuart Nash and his Ikaroa-Rawhiti colleague, Meka Whaitiri, also support re-opening the line.