Port backing for rail link to Wairoa

Train on rail line to Wairoa.

Napier Port says there is likely to be a stronger business case for getting rail freight back up and running again between Napier and Wairoa than for re-opening the entire mothballed Napier-Gisborne rail line.

Central government has dismissed moves to re-open the line, which has been mothballed since December 2012, saying the economics behind it do not stack up.

A major benefit cited by rail supporters is that restoring the link would provide a non-road transport option to get logs from Northern Hawke's Bay forests to Napier Port.

This year the Hawke's Bay Regional Council considered investing almost $5.5 million to re-establish the Napier-Gisborne rail link through a proposed partnership with the private sector. But the plan has not progressed because it was conditional on Government-owned KiwiRail returning the damaged line to an operational state.

In a letter to the council last week, following a call for feedback on the council's strategic priorities, Napier Port chief operating officer Chris Bain said any infrastructure improvements on the Napier-Gisborne line should be "demand tested with a strong emphasis on Napier-Wairoa".

"If there is any case for sustainable rail capacity investment Napier-north, Napier-Wairoa cargo opportunities are likely to comprise proportionately much more throughput than those from a Gisborne origin," Mr Bain wrote.

"In other words, Napier-Wairoa cargo opportunities may more readily meet return on investment criteria whereas the addition of Wairoa-Gisborne coverage may not."

Mr Bain said yesterday one factor that needed to be considered was that the cost of repairing the line was believed to be less significant on the Napier-Wairoa section than on the Wairoa to Gisborne section.

Alan Dick, the chairman of the council's regional transport committee, said he remained confident that re-opening the entire length of the line was viable.

Last week regional leaders met in Wairoa and agreed to support the regional council's proposal to secure a lease on the rail corridor.

A possible alternative option for the line - using it as a tourist cycle trail - also got up a head of steam last week when Havelock North man Malcolm Eves asked Parliament's Transport and Industrial Relations Committee to look into the possibility of funding a feasibility study into the idea.

The cycle trail feasibility investigation was pushed by National's Napier candidate Wayne Walford and Tukituki MP Craig Foss during the election campaign.