Hon Roger Sowry MP National Party Energy Spokesman
23 June 2004
Coal route review highlights risk in rail
"National Party Energy spokesman Roger Sowry says the KBR review of the South Island Coal Route released today by LTSA
is hugely worrying for the taxpayer and should be of great concern to the Government.
The review finds 'the Coal Route is currently fit for the tonnage it is carrying. However, the increase in axle load and
overall tonnage over recent years, the present maintenance philosophy, and a lack of technical resources and finance
make it unlikely that it can remain fit for purpose beyond the immediate future (say, two years). There is a backlog of
maintenance and renewal work and there is a proposal to double the tonnage of coal which is hauled on the route.'
Last year, National released the costings of maintaining the coal route in a fit state for its current tonnage of
traffic obtained from Solid Energy under the Official Information Act.
"It put the basic maintenance cost at $183 million, with up to $50 million required in urgent deferred maintenance work.
"When you lay today's review and last year's forecasts side by side they raise real concerns about the claims made by Dr
Michael Cullen about how much taxpayers will be expected to contribute to maintaining and upgrading the rail track
network," says Mr Sowry.
Dr Cullen has said he will sink $200 million into the entire national network over the next five years.
"Given the estimates, Dr Cullen's figure looks far too light. It would appear to be barely enough to maintain the
network in its current state, let alone upgrade it.
"The Finance Minister believes he will be able to convince Toll (the network user) to meet the future costs. These
costings, and the issues uncovered by the KBR report may explain why the current negotiations with Toll are not
progressing well," says Mr Sowry.
ENDS