Councils to push for Overlander reprieve

The Overlander rolls through the small ski town of Ohakune on its trip north to Auckland. Picture / Greg Bowker

All four regional councils from Auckland to Wellington are mobilising to push the Government for a six-month reprieve for the Overlander trains to allow negotiations for a financial rescue package.

The councils - Auckland, Waikato, Horizons and Wellington - have also won support from Local Government NZ's regional affairs committee to seek the stay of execution to make permanent arrangements to keep alive a 98-year-old passenger rail tradition.

Their next move is to seek a meeting with Finance Minister Michael Cullen to win enough breathing space for a rescue plan.

But they will have to move fast, as rail operator Toll says it needs to know within about two weeks whether the service's 30 or so staff can hope to keep their jobs after September 30, when the daytime passenger trains are set to stop running.

The Australian-owned company says its decision to axe the service two years short of the centenary of passenger rail between Auckland and Wellington follows Dr Cullen's refusal of a subsidy request to stem financial losses.

He has described its request for a $1.75 million annual operating subsidy and a $500,000 injection for rolling-stock upgrades as excessive, given the average daily patronage of just 90 passengers each way, and his belief that there are "plenty of other means of transport".

But the regional councils, backed by communities and businesses along the route and environmentalists such as the Green Party and Friends of the Earth, have condemned that response as short-sighted in view of rising fuel prices.

They also claim that it undermines the Government's own stated commitment to a sustainable transport policy.

In a report presented on Friday to the Local Government NZ committee, the councils pointed to the service as an important lifeline for communities along the way and a lender of "strategic resilience" to the national land transport system.

They warned that once passenger services cease, the condition of the North Island Main Trunk line may be allowed to deteriorate, making it difficult to reinstate services if oil prices go through the roof.

They also noted that the closure decision came at a time of renewed interest in resurrecting other passenger services, such as a link the Hamilton City Council and Environment Waikato have asked consultants to investigate between their territory and Auckland.

The Greens, meanwhile, are planning to launch a national petition tomorrow for a two-year reprieve for the Overlander service to allow a marketing strategy to be devised to boost passenger numbers and return it to profitability.

"Around the world there has been an upsurge in support for train travel as a tourism experience," said co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

"Yet, in New Zealand, little effort has ever gone into marketing the Overlander as a travel option - whether for tourists or for domestic travellers."

The regional council's paper calls for a thorough examination of reasons for a 45 per cent fall in passenger numbers in two years, and suggests that schedules could be reorganised to shorten what is now a 12-hour trip to about 9 hours.

It notes that the journey time has grown from under 11 hours since Toll took over the service in 2003.

But Toll spokeswoman Sue Foley said that was largely to allow for an extended stop at National Park, where many passengers decided to break their trip, and give the rest enough time to enjoy good food at the Station Cafe.

She denied suggestions that Toll lacked a commitment to passenger transport, noting that it sold 11 million tickets a year on Wellington suburban trains and carried about a million people annually across Cook Strait.

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee questions the company's commitment, saying although there may be a case for the Government to subsidise Toll in the short term, a more permanent arrangement may require a new operator.

He was reluctant on Friday to indicate whether his council would be prepared to make a financial contribution, wanting to wait first for a response from the Government.

The chairman of mid-North Island regional council Horizons, Garrick Murfitt, said he believed the long-distance service should be subsidised by both ratepayers and taxpayers in similar fashion to funding for regional buses and trains.


Main trunk

* The line, particularly the Raurimu Spiral, has been recognised as a great engineering feat.

* Passenger numbers have dropped from 90,000 to 50,000 in the past two years, Toll says.

* The Overlander is the last North Island passenger train apart from the one that runs between Palmerston North and Wellington.