It would cost about $300 million to upgrade the rail line to Auckland and build the rail link to Marsden Pt and New Zealand First would make sure both were done if it were part of the next government, NZ First Leader Winston Peters said yesterday.
Mr Peters, the guest speaker at the goodGround Business Breakfast at Ruakaka's Outboard Restaurant, said after decades of Northland voting in National MPs the region's future had been derailed by National.
The audience was made up of real estate agents, business leaders, Northland Regional Council chairman Craig Brown, Whangarei Deputy Mayor Phil Halse and Bream Bay ward councillor Shelley Deeming.
Mr Peters said upgrading the rail line between Northland and Auckland and putting in a rail link to the deep water port at Marsden Pt were crucial for the region's economy.
But "unfortunately for Northland and New Zealand, the National Party is clearly anti-rail. It has long had a clear agenda to undermine and dismantle much of New Zealand's rail infrastructure."