Old slip has slumped . . .

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

In my letter of August 2, I said that on the Opoutama side of the big slip at Blacks Beach, there was an old, 1 metre slump, 40 metres long and covered in blackberry that I bet no one else had seen . . . and that it could go any day. Note, the slump is straight under the edge of the rail track sleepers.

I went up there at the end of last week and that old slip has slumped down 2.5 metres. It has not blown out on to the road and is still covered by blackberry vines. I would say that if we don’t get much more rain, this slump will harden off like it did before.

When we do get some heavy rain, it will take off.

In the December 10, 2022 Gisborne Herald Weekender, Gillian Ward (Gisborne Rail Action Group chair) wrote about a walk that members of the Gisborne Canoe and Tramping Club enjoyed along the abandoned (mothballed) rail line between Nuhaka and Opoutama.

It was a really nice day. The sea was as flat as a pancake. The tramping party included an engineer.

Gillian wrote: “Now that the Napier to Wairoa section of the railway line has regular log train services established, it is time to complete the reinstatement of the line through to Gisborne.”

As we all know, the Napier to Wairoa line is blown out in many areas. At Esk Valley, the line is lying around like a twisted piece of string.

We will never know how many millions of dollars have been wasted on getting the Napier to Wairoa line open, including how much it has cost the ratepayers of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Wairoa District Council.

How many millions of dollars have gone to consultants and engineers, etc, over the past 10 years?

My opinion is that the GRAG should announce they are giving up and support Gisborne City Vintage Railway group, before they have to close up running the world’s only steam engine of its type.

I would love to see a reply from the GRAG.

Merv Goodley