Tukituki MP Anna Lorck would like to see passenger trains returned to the region. Photo / Supplied
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck would like to see passenger trains returned to the region. Photo / Supplied
A Hawke's Bay MP says more people need to call for passenger trains to be reinstated if there is any chance of the regional council taking the idea seriously.
Hawke's Bay has been without passenger trains since the Bay Express service between Napier and Wellington was scrapped in October 2001.
Tukituki Labour MP Anna Lorck would like to see a passenger service reinstated.
She has been encouraging people to submit on the draft 10-year public transport plan for the region, which is currently open for submissions.
About 24 submissions have been made on that plan to date regarding passenger trains.
Lorck said more people will need to make a submission as "it's going to take a big Hawke's Bay-wide effort to convince the council to take passenger rail seriously".
"Encouraging the regional council to at least add a passenger commuter train service as a future option to its public transport plan is a good start."
Hawke's Bay Regional Council transport manager Katie Nimon said they had received good feedback on the draft plan.
"We have received 123 submissions to date, and of those 24 submissions mention passenger rail," she said.
"It's great to get this feedback and we'd love to see a rail network in Hawke's Bay like Auckland or Wellington but for our region the options in the proposal are the best value for money for the foreseeable future.
"We are heartened to see the Government has launched an inquiry into the future of inter-regional passenger rail in New Zealand."
The "options" in the proposal are focused on buses and do not mention passenger trains.
Earlier this month, a HBRC spokeswoman said there were a number of factors behind that omission, including high costs and time required to get the infrastructure in place which would not be achievable within the next 10 years.
Lorck will be down at the vacant site of the burned-down Hastings train station on Saturday morning from 10am, encouraging and helping more people to make a submission.
