Rail study huge concern: Councillor

Central Hawke's Bay ward councillor Debbie Hewitt

Hawke's Bay Regional Council has agreed to spend up to $250,000 investigating the feasibility of leasing the mothballed Napier-Gisborne rail line and part-funding the re-establishment of a rail freight service between the two cities.

But one councillor said yesterday she was "hugely concerned" that the move amounted to sinking ratepayer money into a "past century" transport option that was uneconomic.

Central Hawke's Bay ward councillor Debbie Hewitt was the only councillor at yesterday's meeting to vote against the feasibility study proposal which followed KiwiRail agreeing to allow the council to lease the line.

If the study is favourable and the council agrees to take up the lease option - ahead of a March 1, deadline imposed by KiwiRail - private sector funding of about $10 million to $12 million would then need to be found on top of a $5.46 million provision the council has earmarked for the project.

Councillor Alan Dick said reopening the line would provide a transport solution to shift a "wall of wood" expected to be harvested in Northern Hawkes' Bay beginning within the next couple of years.

"Without rail assisting, it's going to be a procession of logging trucks on that difficult and potentially dangerous road, and that in itself is conditional on whether there are enough trucks, and in particular enough truck drivers - and there's a real shortage of them at the moment," Mr Dick said.

"If it [the re-opening proposal] comes off it's a great step forward. It's a game changer for the northern part of this region, of the same magnitude but only a fraction of the cost of what maybe you can do with water storage in Central Hawke's Bay," he said.

But Mrs Hewitt said she was concerned the feasibility study amounted to throwing "good money after bad".

"While I am completely behind economic development throughout Hawke's Bay - and that particularly includes Northern Hawke's Bay - I don't believe the money that is going to be required to bring this line up to speed is going to justify the business case when I look at the government having discharged their responsibilities. They've had a good look at it."

Earlier this year the regional council asked central government to fund the track repair work but it refused, saying the line was not viable.

Mrs Hewitt said KiwiRail's decision to allow the council to lease the line amounted to a "hospital pass" because under its proposal the company would transfer health and safety liabilities and on-going maintenance to the council.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for them and a huge risk for us," she said.

However, Regional Council chairman Fenton Wilson told the meeting the option to pursue the project through the feasibility study represented "a looming opportunity that will be lost if it's not taken".

He said a private operator sub-leasing the rail link from the council would have opportunities to make the line work that were not available to KiwiRail.

"I think we need to give this a chance.

"I'm fully behind this process we're about to undertake," Mr Wilson said.