Northland movers and shakers will fight KiwiRail plans to mothball the Auckland-Whangarei railway line with the best "business case" for rail they can come up with by June 1.
KiwiRail chief Jim Quinn told the Northland Regional Council (NRC) in February that KiwiRail needed to use its resources to maintain and
develop its economic services and the axe was hovering over the uneconomic Auckland-Whangarei line. He said only increased use during the next year could save the service; revealed looming problems of line maintenance on other lines in the north and stressed that if Northland could come up with a good case for saving rail, KiwiRail wanted to hear it.
The NRC has asked its Regional Transport Committee (RTC) to lead the charge by organising a review of the future of rail in Northland and providing "an informed and robust position on the future of rail in Northland".
Committee chairman John Bain said at the RTC's meeting in Whangarei earlier this week that Northland local authorities will co-operate on the review. Their findings would be tabled at the next meeting on June 1 and then melded into a regional rail pitch.
He said the committee would provide KiwiRail with "solid facts" but was "deeply concerned at the prospect of a big increase in the number of heavy trucks on Northland roads if rail services cease". He said the Auckland City Council was also concerned at the possibility of losing rail services and was keenly following developments.
Rowan Struthers, area manager for Hancock Forest Management (NZ), the largest forest manager in Northland (60,000ha), told the committee yesterday that his company transported 5.5per cent of what it moves by rail. He said it cost more to send logs by rail because of the double loading (from truck to rail, and then back to truck for Whangarei to Marsden Pt), but that a rail link to Marsden Pt would change this scenario.
