“KiwiRail has been working on a scoping study to understand the cost of line reinstatement ... or alternatively mothballing [it].
“We expect to have discussions with the Government around the line by the middle of this year.”
Mothballing a train line means officially closing it but keeping it in relatively good condition, so that it can been reinstated in future if required and funding is made available.
Advocates have highlighted the benefits of reinstating the train line, which includes taking trucks off the troubled SH2 Napier-Wairoa Rd and reducing maintenance costs for that highway.
However, the likes of major timber and pulp mill Pan Pac, one of Hawke’s Bay’s biggest employers, did not use the Napier to Wairoa train line to transport its logs when it was open.
History of the line
The train line used to run all the way from Napier to Gisborne but a storm closed that line in 2012.
Later that year, the line was officially mothballed.
In 2019, the Napier-Wairoa section (about half of the line) was reinstated following a $6.2 million investment.
Services were suspended just a week after they began due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before log trains resumed in November 2020.
Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 then struck and damaged more than 400 sites on the 115km track.
Meanwhile, the current rail network in Hawke’s Bay features a railway line which starts at Woodville (near Palmerston North) – where it connects with other tracks – and heads north to Napier Port.
The line then extends further north to Wairoa but that section is out of action.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
