Bruce Bisset: Bad stop ahead for East Coast rail

Seems to me if the right were serious about strengthening regional economies through amalgamation and supportive infrastructure then, for the East Coast, they'd need look no further than getting in behind the urgent repair of the Napier-Gisborne railway line.

But the silence is deafening, isn't it?

So much so that it appears KiwiRail may simply shrug and close what was, in its opinion, an under-utilised, loss-making line with little inherent value. And government will not intervene.

Yet on the face of it, it's a project that ticks all the trendy boxes. Given the nature of rail, operation of the line affects all East Coast communities, so it's a pan-Bay issue those with "unifying" voices could happily wax lyrical about.

Then it's a green issue, an alternative to inefficient road transport, which is increasingly under threat as peak oil and climate change start to bite. And, yes, a health and safety issue too: apart from keeping large trucks off narrow winding roads, the regularity of slips closing state highways demonstrates a need for retaining other means of bulk access.

It's also a growth issue, especially given the line had just been upgraded to take larger-volume containers and a number of high-profile businesses were gearing up to make better use of that - and of Napier's container port - before nature rudely intervened.

The significant washouts that have cut the line will, I imagine, take several million dollars to repair, so it's no surprise KiwiRail is being cautious in evaluating the damage and the cost.

But if they were keen to see the line re-opened, they'd have said so already. Given they were contemplating closing it, the weather has unknowingly provided a ready excuse.

All the community effort that's gone into upping freight volumes and securing more customers over the past year or two looks like it will have been in vain. Just as it was starting to appear as if that effort would pay off, too.

It's not so long ago that all the major politicians of the region - mayors, chairmen, MPs, business leaders - got together and supported a call to retain the line. But apart from Gisborne's Mayor Meng Foon, who is working "damn hard" (his words) now to get it fixed, the others seem to have gone to ground.

What's most instructive is that there are now three Cabinet Ministers - Tolley, Foss, and Tremain - living in the area. But only Gisbournite Tolly has muttered any protest in the face of minister-for-everything Gerry Brownlee's casual dismissal of the line.

What we hear from government instead is how vital our roads are and how much the Nats are going to spend - some $14.5 billion in the next handful of years - on "roads of national significance".

Despite road traffic volumes have fallen back to 2004 levels, Brownlee claimed this reasonably-steady reduction over eight years was "not enough to show a trend", so dismissed it as a reason for review.

Similarly, Auckland's super-council plan for an airport link and inner-city rail loop has been rebuffed - despite booming public transport passenger numbers and despite the major reason for the city's forced amalgamation was to give the metropolis one voice which government would then listen to. Ha.

Interesting to note New Zealand's current account deficit ($8.5 billion) and the amount we spend importing oil ($8 billion) almost balance. Which might explain National's avid pursuit of the stuff - but doesn't excuse them locking us into ongoing oil dependence by promoting motorways.

Rail might not be a whole answer, but it's a good start. Unfortunately for the East Coast, it's turning into a bad stop.

Those intent on building their little provincial fiefdoms seem ambivalent at best about wider regional concerns, while if central government can ignore a united Auckland there's no reason to suspect they'll regard the minor provinces with any favour.

Is the line to be closed because it's only to Gizzy?

Poverty Bay may be more remote than Hawke's Bay but, in a national context, not by much. Wonder what the reaction would have been if the slip that closed the road through the Manawatu Gorge had closed the rail line instead.

The proof's in the pudding and this rail tale is already proving a flat soufflé of disdain.

That's the right off. Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet.