Who pays for rail crossing repair?

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

GISBORNE ratepayers are likely to end up footing the bill to repair a railway crossing that one councillor believes should be funded by money from the tourism industry.

Gisborne District Council’s infrastructure service committee last week agreed unanimously to recommend that the council pay a total of $45,000 to pay for repairs to potholes at the Lytton Road railway line crossing, even though the crossing is not council-owned.

Committee chairman Councillor Graeme Thompson said while he agreed with fixing the crossing he pointed out there was a reason why the road was in its current state.

“It’s because the railway line goes through there. That’s common practice throughout New Zealand that the railways do the crossing and that’s always been the case because that road wouldn’t look like that if there wasn’t a railway line.

“Therefore we’re taking on an obligation that really isn’t ours and we’re going to be doing it because we value the steam train’s connection to the district, and I would wonder if because of that it should be funded under tourism. That’s basically what that cost is.”

Mr Thompson said now that a section of the Napier-Gisborne line was leased out to Gisborne City Vintage Railway Inc., it had come back to the council because GCVR did not have the money.

“We are all sympathetic to getting it done but it should be funded through a system which is pinpointed at tourism. Every year people say we don’t spend enough on tourism but this is another heavy cost where we fund things for tourism.”

Councillor Larry Foster said there had been regular requests from the public to fix the potholes on the crossing.

“It’s a major problem, it needs to be fixed urgently. We can’t wait until February. It needs to be fixed right now. This is going to get worse over winter.”

Cr Foster agreed it was not fair that the issue had to be tackled by local government but was definitely unfair to land the tourism industry or Tourism Eastland with the costs.

“Whether the government needs to step up. Even if the actual line is defunct, you can’t lay the responsibility on ratepayers. I don’t think it’s fair the government has landed us with this.”

Councillor Brian Wilson said the $5,000 costs for a temporary repair was needed to ensure a “whole lot” of requests for service were dealt with immediately.

The committee also agreed to recommend Gisborne District Council spend another $40,000 through its 2016/17 (financial year) roading rehabilitation programme, and to advise GCVR to address any further requirements through the 2018-28 long-term plan.

Councillor Roger Haisman pointed out that was not a guarantee to fund every crossing on the line.