KEY POINTS:
A Marsden Pt rail link has taken its "first step", with the Northland Regional Council and rail company Ontrack forming a joint venture to buy land for the line.
NRC chairman Mark Farnsworth said the joint-venture partnership would share the costs of buying land for the 16km rail link from Oakleigh. Ontrack said it expected to file notice of designation before Christmas.
The possibility of a rail link to Marsden Pt, which has the region's deep-water port, has been talked about for more than 30 years, but has made progress only this year.
In March, the NRC committed $1 million to start a designation process for the line, and Mr Farnsworth said the joint venture was the first of three final steps to making the track a reality.
"This is the result of a combination of a lot of effort from a lot of people.
"But it's just the first step. Step two will be getting the rail line from Auckland to Northland upgraded and step three is building the line."
Mr Farnsworth would not say how much he thought it would cost to buy the land, but said there were ways it could be paid for, including borrowing, or using existing reserves.
"We could get into a relatively cost-neutral situation where we, say, borrow the money to purchase the [rail] corridor then lease it back to get income from it. That land has a potential economic return before we build the track," he said.
He believed the link had to be constructed within the next 10 years.
The link's estimated cost had been about $88 million in 2003; it was now believed to be more than $120 million and rising.
A four-person team had been working with about 20 Bream Bay property owners to secure the land needed.
"We're pleased with how negotiations have gone," he said.
Ontrack chairman Cam Moore said it would be the first significant rail expansion in the region in more than 50 years.
Building the line would cost more than $100 million and would need to be funded separately when the project proceeded, as would any improvements to the line south of Whangarei to enable large containers to pass through tunnels.
Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff welcomed the joint venture, saying his district council would do all it could to help the project along.
He said the rail link was hugely important to Whangarei and Northland.
"It's one of the projects I've been pushing for," he said.
The Marsden Pt deep-water port should not have been given consent without this rail line in the first place.
"But that's behind us and this is a chance to get this done. That port won't prosper to the next level without that link to Auckland. Auckland is our partner and it will really add the icing to the cake if we can finally get that rail link to the port."
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
