“CEAC supports resumption of trains from Wairoa to Napier”.
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
CEAC supports the beginning of log trains from Wairoa to Napier, - but we need to resume all freight services to be added to the service and also restoration of the service extended to
Gisborne again finally also after an eight year loss of rail freight and passenger service, which caused truck gridlocked dangerous
roads causing many fatalities.
Subject: FW: log trains began today. from Wairoa to Napier with 30 wagons. 25th January 2020.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408144/reinstated-wairoa-to-napier-rail-line-should-bring-growth
Quote;
“A train loaded with logs will make its way along the Wairoa to Napier line tomorrow, for the first time in eight years.
A train loaded with logs will make its way along the Wairoa to Napier line tomorrow, for the first time in eight years.
KiwiRail And more jobs are expected to be created with the restoration of the Wairoa to Napier rail line.
The line was mothballed after the Napier to Gisborne line was badly damaged in a storm in 2012.
At the time, the cost of repairing and maintaining the tracks was deemed too high.
But it's been restored with a $6.2 million boost from the Provincial Growth Fund and trains carrying 1,400 tonnes of
logs each weekend will recommence tomorrow.
David Kriel from Napier Port said it would provide a welcome boost for the region.
"It's definitely going to be more employment for the region because you have a log staging yard and marshalling onto
rail in Wairoa which never existed before and it's going to unlock the potential of the region because they will have
another lifeline to export out of Napier Port as opposed to travelling on the road," David Kriel said.
KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer Todd Moyle said now that their logging yard consents were in place, they will run two
trains a week, on Saturdays and Sundays.
"Each train could take up to 50 long distance truck hauls off the road between Napier and Wairoa, with 66 percent fewer
emissions per tonne of freight carried by rail compared to trucks," Todd Moyle said.
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said it meant 5000 fewer truck journeys between Wairoa and Napier
each year.
He said the volume of log exports from Hawke's Bay was expected to remain high until the mid-2030s, and Wairoa's harvest
was part of that picture.
The first log train arrives at Napier Port about 7pm tomorrow.
with 30 wagons. 25th January 2020.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408144/reinstated-wairoa-to-napier-rail-line-should-bring-growth
CEAC Comment;
Rail must equal the services offered to road freight operation’s;
Using the “back-haul” freight system to offer a reduced haulage cost for return freight on empty wagons where
available”.
Quote;
“A backhaul, as it relates to trucking and logistics, is the return trip of a commercial truck that is transporting
freight back over all or part of the same route it took to get to its current location. Both freight brokers and motor
carriers rely heavily on one another when it comes to backhauls. Let me explain how and why. After delivering their
customer’s freight, motor carriers typically want and need to get their trucks back to their home base quickly so they
can pick up another load for one of their primary customers. If one of the carrier’s primary customers calls him for
service and he doesn’t have any available equipment to pick up the load, that customer is most likely going to call
another carrier which presents a lost revenue opportunity.”
Unquote;
Truck freight has now become extremely dominant as the ‘major land transport option’ in the last 30 years producing
unwelcome negative effects to all who live in our “shared environment” both from inside our cities and country dwellers
alike.
Negative effects were,
•Increasing environmental road traffic noise.
•Heavy vibrations,
•increased air pollution emissions.
•Tyre dust.
CEAC supports the beginning of log trains from Wairoa to Napier.
• We need to resume all freight services to be added to the service including ‘backhauls’.
• Restoration of all rail service extended to Gisborne again finally.
• After an eight year loss of commercial rail freight and passenger service.
• Which caused truck gridlocked dangerous roads causing many fatalities.
• Lower the transport climate emissions inventory’s to save costs and charges.
End.