Tranz Rail passenger trains coming to end of the line

By BERNARD ORSMAN and PATRICK GOWER

The Northerner from Wellington pulled into the Auckland Railway Station last night, hauling three empty carriages and a handful of passengers.

As the train waited to begin its return overnight trip to Wellington, the driver read a document from his employer, Tranz Rail, headed, "What is Outsourcing?"

"Mate, I'm just trying to get my head around all of this," he told the Herald.

It is another quiet day on the rails, even as Tranz Rail announces its biggest restructuring since the National Government sold the Railways in 1993 for $400 million.

The company wants to get away from moving people and sell off its long-distance passenger services and refrigerated freight to concentrate on freight and the Cook Strait ferries.

It plans to contract out its infrastructure, engineering and maintenance, terminal and ship operations, in the process cutting the number of workers from 4000 to just 600 over the next two years.

Up for sale are eight scenic services , including the Overlander and Northerner services from Auckland to Wellington and the flagship TranzAlpine run between Christchurch and Greymouth, considered one of the great train journeys of the world.

The others are the Kaimai Express (Auckland-Tauranga), the Geyserland Express (Auckland-Rotorua), the Bay Express (Wellington-Napier), the TranzCoastal (Christchurch-Picton) and the Southerner (Christchurch-Invercargill). If buyers cannot be found for all or part of these routes Tranz Rail might close them.

When the Main Trunk Line was the backbone of the North Island, the trains were filled with passengers, but now they are used mainly by tourists.

Last night, one of the few passengers on the Northerner, Ken James of Rangiora, was disappointed that train travel could be coming to the end of the line.

"I haven't travelled on this for years.

"I'm just glad I came up on it, because I might never be on it again."

Ann Wiggins picked up the train at Taumarunui and was saddened the romance of rail could be over.

"It is just so easy, especially when travelling on your own.

"You can sit back or walk around if you want to, but basically you can just relax and enjoy the scenery."

Tranz Rail spokeswoman Nicola McFaull said the Tranz Scenic operation was profitable and the company was confident it would find a new owner to make it bigger and better.

Tranz Rail is also to close the unprofitable Napier-Gisborne and Rotorua branch lines unless the local communities or the Government contribute money to keep them open.

The restructuring will not affect the deal by the Auckland region to pay Tranz Rail $65 million for access to train corridors.

In fact, this is the kind of deal Tranz Rail is keen to do to get out of providing public passenger services.

Rotorua Mayor Grahame Hall believes Tranz Rail never put enough effort into marketing the tourist-oriented Geyserland classic train, which travels daily between Auckland and Rotorua.

"I am absolutely, incredibly disappointed and I think it's very shortsighted of them, because if you look at what's happening throughout the world with passenger transport, I think it could have taken off.

"I have been disappointed for a hell of a long time."

He said the Rotorua District Council had offered to help to market the train service and would now look at options for keeping it running, including setting up a consortium.

The Government says it will have to work through the changes with Tranz Rail.

The company has briefed Transport Minister Mark Gosche.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the company's plans bear on the lease under which the Government gave it access to the rail corridors.

"What it is planning will change the landscape.

"The Government needs to fully understand the implications of the review. What the company is planning will have important implications for New Zealand.

"It will mean changes to the way that commuter operations are run in Wellington and Auckland, the loss of some services in rural areas and the transferral on to roads of a considerable amount of non-containerised goods."

The editor of Rails magazine, Bob Stott, said the New Zealand railways were once a "family that thought they would last forever."

"Today we really have seen the end of the self-contained railway.

"But the romanticism of the railways has not ended - trains will still whistle in the night."

Union dismayed at size of Tranz Rail cuts