Rail Minister Winston Peters and Chris Bishop detail how more than $600m in Government funding will help upgrade the country's rail services. Video / Mark Mitchell
The Government will tip more than $600 million into the country’s rail services, spending one minister describes as “overdue and critical”.
Facing multiple hecklers at Wellington’s train station, Minister for Rail Winston Peters and Transport Minister Chris Bishop today unveiled $604.6m of Government funding in Budget2025, set to go towards upgrading and renewing rail in New Zealand.
About $460m would be used to renew the rail freight network, while $143m would go towards upgrading the metropolitan rail networks in Auckland and Wellington.
“This programme replaces decades’ old bridges, culverts, and other assets with infrastructure to last for generations to come, and provides the bedrock for growth by the commerciallyfunded freight operations to move our goods,” Peters said in a statement.
“Rail currently moves 13% of national freight and a quarter of New Zealand’s exports, complementing our road freighters’ short-hauls by doing the heavy-haul weights, the long-distance runs, and being the efficient clearing house so coastal ports can handle more export ships.”
A KiwiRail train. Photo / Bevan Conley
Speaking to media this morning from the station, Peters said today’s investment was one part of the Government’s plan to ensure rail services provided a “much better repayment of the taxpayers’ investment going forward”.
“I think [if] you watched another six months, you’ll begin to see that we’re going to dramatically turn this around.
“I can’t announce it today, but this is just the first step on this.”
Bishop said the spending on the metro services in the two major cities would address “overdue and critical renewals”.
“A backlog of overdue renewals has made services less reliable, with commuters experiencing ongoing disruption in recent years.
“Piecemeal network maintenance has increased overall costs and has not delivered the high-performing metro rail service that our cities need to flourish.”
However, he warned that Auckland Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council would need to “meet their fair share of costs” to deliver the quality of services the Government expected.
Rail Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Chris Bishop arriving at Wellington Railway Station. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Bishop later refused to elaborate on how much councils would have to pay.
“[Councils] ultimately have to pay for the operating costs to some extent of the rail network and there’s an ongoing discussion to be had with the regional councils ... about the exact funding split so I’m not going to get ahead of those discussions and those negotiations.”
The end of the media stand-up was somewhat derailed by one commuter who had stopped to listen to the ministers, unlike others who had heckled as they walked past.
“Bollocks,” the man said, to which Peters responded: “You look like bollocks mate.”
The man, who clearly had no love for Peters, referenced the NZ First’s leader’s age and made other disparaging remarks.
Peters repeatedly told the man to “naff off”. Peters also shot back: “You look older than I do, mate.”
The verbals ended with the man calling Peters a “f****** moron”. Peters walked away from the stand-up chuckling.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.
