Transport firm switches to rail

Weatherell Transport is the company that will create another four trips per week for the Napier to Gisborne railway.

The venture would inject much needed business into the struggling rail line.

Permits to allow the firm to truck containers from packhouses to the Gisborne rail depot are expected to be confirmed soon. From there the containers could then be freighted via train directly to the Port of Napier.

Owner Richard Weatherell said a full container of squash was too heavy to drive to Napier, so moving the produce by train made sense.

The new demand for the rail line may prove crucial to its survival as it suffered a loss of almost $2.5 million last year and mothballing the line was being considered if it did not improve by the end of 2012.

Mr Weatherell said with diesel prices constantly rising, rail was becoming an increasingly appealing option over road transport.

"We've used rail in the past under its previous ownership but then the service got very unreliable," he said.

"Now under KiwiRail it is a whole different ball game."

KiwiRail Hawke's Bay manager Kim Santer announced new demand for the train service two days ago at a regional transport committee meeting.

Mr Santer said along with new demand from Weatherell Transport, Napier based fertiliser producer Ravensdown indicated it would like to send about 2000 tonnes by train, an increase of the 600 tonnes it currently freights.

The new demand was outstripping the capacity of the railway at this stage, Mr Santer said and they would require more crew and extra services to facilitate it.