Milk trains increase rail traffic in Dannevirke

Despite many Dannevirke residents reporting what they believe is an increase in the number of freight trains travelling through town, it's not the case.

"There has been no significant increase in rail freight traffic through the Manawatu Gorge since the closure of the road in August last year," KiwiRail spokeswoman Candice Johanson said.

Ms Johanson says three freight trains a day travel through Dannevirke four days a week, and the number of extra wagons they have been hauling has been minimal - only four.

"This is due to the overall growth in freight volumes for the central North Island and also because Christmas is the peak freight season," Ms Johanson said.

Reports from contractors working in the Manawatu Gorge saying the amount of rail traffic had "tripled" were not correct Ms Johanson said.

"The increased number of trains people have seen going through the gorge will be the milk trains from the Fonterra Oringi depot, just south of Dannevirke. There are usually four trains a day, hauling 32 tanks but, over the past few months, each train has been pulling an extra four tanks to cope with peak milk flow from Tararua farms. With the season peak now ending, this is expected to reduce back to normal levels."

Meanwhile, increased milkflow around New Zealand meant Fonterra needed permission from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to temporarily increase its loading limits to cope with the surplus.

The co-operative's tanker fleet was able to collect an additional 1.2 million litres of milk every day until the end of December last year.

Fonterra managing director trade and operations Gary Romano said New Zealand had some of the best weather conditions in years, which resulted in a wave of milk coming in earlier than forecast.

Managing the extra milk was a huge job and it was great that government agencies had given the co-operative the go-ahead to increase the operating weight of its tankers from 44 tonnes to 45 tonnes. This increase in operating weight meant tankers on the road during peak production could collect an additional 1000 litres on each run.