Rail from northern Hawke's Bay to Gisborne is feasible but would cost $30m, report says

The scene of the March 2012 Kopuwharo loop washout which closed the Wairoa-Gisborne railway line. Photo / Supplied

A push is expected to be made to repair or rebuild a destroyed section of railway track to complete the reinstatement of the Napier-Gisborne line.

The moves follows the release of a Government-backed study determining it is feasible to carry-out the rebuild at the site of a major washout near Kopuawharo which closed the Wairoa-Gisborne section in March 2012. There is sufficient freight demand for five trains a week, a report says.

The washout led to the mothballing of the Napier-Wairoa section, which was reopened this year to meet the wall-of-timber demand for logging transport to Napier Port.

It's forecast that most of the East Coast logging would still go through Eastland Port in Gisborne, where there's demand for fruit, meat and processed timber rail freight.

Both the report and the reopening of the Napier-Wairoa section were funded by the Labour-led Government's Provincial Growth Fund.

But the reinstatement won't be cheap. The report by economists and researchers BERL, and commissioned by specifically formed target group Tairawhiti Rail Ltd and Gisborne growth concern Activate Tairawhiti, estimated costs of about $30 million to get the line safely operational.

It says one-off expenditure of between $20m and $23m is needed to get the line to an operational level, with up to $6m needed for additional works to protect the line against further adverse weather events, of the type which caused its closure.

Over the following decade an additional $5-7m would be required would be needed for further bridge, tunnel and track work.

BERL research director Ganesh Nana says more-detailed commercial feasibility studies are needed, but the case for reopening is stated and "doing nothing" would hold back the Tairawhiti region of Gisborne and East Cape.

BERL adopted a "wellbeing framework", taking into account the needs of the region – "to address issues of resilience, relative isolation and the disconnection of communities through the region".

It says it would result in benefits for all communities on State Highway 2 to and from Gisborne, including less trucks, less noise, less dust and a reduction of at least 5 per cent in the number of severe-injury or fatal road crashes.

The report concludes that while passenger services wouldn't alone justify reopening, tourism opportunities can operate in addition to a freight service.

Passenger services last operated on the line more than 30 years ago.

Hawke's Bay Māori leader and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana says there is room for the iwi and East Coast iwi Ngāti Porou to consider involvement at some stage, but the financial push needs to come from government, and international investment.

"They're the ones who need to move the logs," he said.

Meanwhile, log traffic is yet to start moving on the Wairoa-Gisborne sector, although with completion of handling facilities in Wairoa the timber is expected to start rolling early in the New Year.