However, there were no plans to close the line.
“Under the first three years of the Rail Network Investment Programme, we are re-sleepering 7km of track and doing some re-railing, doing civil works to improve formation and drainage, culvert renewals, retaining walls and river protection,” he said.
Like all businesses, he said KiwiRail reviewed costs on a regular basis but those details were a commercial matter between the company and its customers.
Forest360 Whanganui director Marcus Musson said they used to ship their products by rail as it was around 15 per cent cheaper than using trucks.
However, costs had flipped, with it now being around 15 per cent more expensive to ship goods via train.
Part of this was due to the extra handling of rail freight involved, like driving the goods to a railyard.
It could also partially be due to the price of diesel increasing, but if this was solely the case rail would still be cheaper as trains use significantly less fuel than trucks.
Rather, the main driver of price changes was KiwiRail, which he said was dictated by the Consumer Price Index and had been seeing rate increases from the Government.
A meeting with KiwiRail was needed to bring prices back in line and discuss concessions because there was no way companies would go back to rail with the current costs.
Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe agreed price increases had driven freight operators to the road, which was evident from looking at the increased traffic on state highways around the region.
Because of the impact trucks have on the region’s roads, the council was looking for ways to improve or move away from the binary freight system of either road or rail.
He said he’d prefer a system that gets both product and people out of the region faster and safer.
Ways the council was working on achieving this included making submissions to Horizons Regional Council’s Regional Land Transport Plan.
The Regional Land Transport Plan for 2021-2031 stated that the region’s road network was heavily used due to the limited availability of alternative options.
Around 93 per cent of the total amount of freight in the region is carried on roads.
The plan said regional politicians had long advocated for better utilisation of the rail network for freight, with export volumes expected to grow by 55 per cent by 2024.
A key part of this would be the development of the Marton Rail Freight Hub.
The rail hub was announced in 2020 as a partnership between the Rangitīkei District Council, Te Rūnanga O Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa, Infrastructure Reference Group and Rangitīkei Forestry Holdings.
Rangitīkei District Mayor Andy Watson said the main reason the council received $9.1 million from the Government for the hub was it would take freight off the roads.
“That was the primary focus of Government’s position, to remove a huge number of heavy trucks from, for instance, State Highway 1,” he said.
He agreed the main issue keeping more operators from using rail for freight was cost, with around an $8 per tonne difference in the expense between rail and road.
Most freight being delivered via road was an issue for both the Rangitīkei district and the whole country, for both the amount of carbon emitted by trucks and the effect it was having on the deterioration of the region’s roads, Watson said.
“It’s generally agreed by all parties that the networks are probably deteriorating.”
Because of this, the hub was also being developed with the hope of making rail a cheaper option for freight and bringing prices in line with road freight.
