The time has come for the people of Gisborne, and its council, to back the re-instatement of the railway line.
The current Government would give this a fair hearing and have indicated that. The case is good. Transport in the region is difficult. Although the port does a reasonable job with export logs, it would be quite expensive for producers to export via Gisborne. The roads in the area are problematic, to say the least. The topography is steep and winding. Road maintenance costs are high due to the local soils and lack of decent road metals being produced in the region. The roads are hard on trucks and for motorists; trucks create extra congestion and the potential for road crashes. In difficult weather roads can be closed for extended periods with few viable alternatives. In short, Gisborne industry needs rail.
What the Government needs to know is that rail will reduce road maintenance costs, reduce the potential for road crashes and fatalities, will lower carbon emissions, create more potential for investment in the region to boost jobs and exports, and bring less congestion on the roads for car traffic.
There are some questions. How will it work and is KiwiRail interested? Going by past comments from KiwiRail managers they may not be — however, new management and a different Government might change that.
If KiwiRail is still of the view that it must do the minimum for the most return (which is good business sense, and was its brief), that would mean not serving Gisborne. In that case I would suggest that the under-wheel infrastructure be taken from KiwiRail control on this line and be administered by the NZ Railways Corporation. That way a “short line” operation could be developed offering customers good service and going all-out to develop good, steady contracts in the area, rather than turning their backs on customers as KiwiRail did.
To complement the freight operation in whatever configuration, tourist trains are keen to get back to Gisborne. New Zealand has a large amount of heritage railway equipment which is under-utilised, especially since the last government closed so many destinations. Collectively, heritage operators could offer a regular national tour, from Auckland to Rotorua, connecting with Gisborne by air or coach, then Gisborne to Wellington before returning to Auckland on the Northern Explorer, supplementing the KiwiRail service. The same could happen in the South Island.
From Gisborne, Gisborne City Rail could partner with another operator to boost rolling stock and provide a bigger locomotive to get to Napier. Of course, these tours will have their opposite return journeys. This sort of operation could be organised and marketed by a tourist company, buying heritage railway services. There will also be the national excursions which used to come to Gisborne quite regularly.
The only real opposition I have seen in the region came from Eastland Port. Competition should not worry them. It should just help to make them more innovative. However, I do not see rail in competition with Eastland Port, but complementing its service.
Quite frankly, I don’t see a downside to rail returning to Gisborne.