Rail stop for town left open

Editorial

The revamp of KiwiRail's Overlander service is hoped to provide a boost for our tourism industry - but not so much for the people of Taihape, who are upset the new service will no longer stop in their town.

It's easy to have sympathy for both sides in this debate.

You can understand where the Taihape residents are coming from - they've become accustomed to having the train service stopping in their town, and there are clearly some who will find the absence of that service an inconvenience.

But from KiwiRail's point of view, the evolving transport market has meant changes to the way the Overlander operates and with minimal numbers of people reportedly using the train from smaller towns, commercial considerations do need to come into play, much as it might rankle with some to concede that.

What is pleasing to see is that KiwiRail has left the door open - it's clear that the Overlander is being repositioned as a tourist-based service, and the option is seemingly there for stops to be made, if there is the demand.

Similarly, were Taihape to grow the number of local people wanting to regularly use the Overlander service, it doesn't seem out of the question that KiwiRail could reconsider its position.

There's always plenty of emotive discussion whenever small towns lose a service - again, that's unsurprising, as locals tend to see it as another example of regional New Zealand losing out to those in the "big smoke".

But there's an important distinction to be made in this scenario - unlike the potential loss of much of Wanganui's maternity services, a scenario which thankfully appears to have been averted for now, the Overlander is less a vital community function, and more a consumer-driven service.

Because of this, the power to fix this situation rests with the people of Taihape.

Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz