Editorial: Make sure rail is viable

Napier Gisborne Railway chairman Don Selby. Photo / Tamara Eastwood

It was nice to see our mayors, particularly Bill Dalton of Napier and Hastings' Lawrence Yule, in agreement on an issue this week.

While Mr Dalton and Mr Yule do work closely together on a number of issues, their different stances on amalgamation tend to overshadow everything else at times. So, it was refreshing to see the two of them, along with Gisborne's Meng Foon and Wairoa's Craig Little, agreeing to support the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's bid to secure a lease for the defunct Napier-Gisborne railway line.

The railway line and, in particular, the viability of reopening it after it suffered storm damage 2 years ago, has been much debated and was a hot topic in the recent election. National's local candidates Wayne Walford and Craig Foss wanted it turned into a cycle trail, while Labour's Stuart Nash (now the MP for Napier) wanted trains on the tracks again.

The National Government earlier indicated it would not fund its repair.

But Napier Gisborne Railway chairman Don Selby said he was still confident $10-$12 million could be raised from private investors. The regional council has earmarked $5.5 million to re-establish the railway line as an alternative to freight transport on roads.

The regional council's chairman Fenton Wilson said that while the end use of the railways was still being considered, a decision to lease it was "now urgent".

The key thing to this debate is the viability of the line.

I am sure the mayors and Mr Wilson will tread cautiously as we have to be absolutely sure that reopening the line is the right thing to do economically.

The last thing the ratepayers of Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier and Hastings need is to be saddled with the financial burden of something that could quite possibly be not worth the effort to save it.