Overlander battle gathers steam

The Overlander is full for its final trip, as four councils try to save the service.

A last-ditch effort was launched yesterday to try to save the Overlander, while a new-found popularity means the train's last journey is booked out.

Train company Toll NZ said there were no public seats left on the final service between Auckland and Wellington on September 30.

"People who have always planned to do the trip have suddenly realised they've only got another two months so there has been an upswing in bookings," said company spokeswoman Sue Foley. "I can understand the nostalgia but the reality is, no one used it, the demand just wasn't there."

Toll staff would be on the final trip along with media but there were no public seats left. "It's going to be quite a sad day for staff so we want to do what's appropriate," she said.

Yesterday mid-North Island-based regional council Horizons announced that four councils had joined forces to fight for retention of the service. Chairman Garrick Murfitt said the announcement of the end of the train trip had come as "a bit of a bombshell" and businesses in small towns along the route would be hit hard.

The Station Cafe in National Park was just one example, he said, with 39,414 Overlander passengers being patrons last year.

"If the Overlander goes, so will those people and a business will lose a million dollars a year," he said.

The heads of Auckland Regional Council, Environment Waikato, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Horizons would meet next month to go through the options.

A trip to Wellington to plead for the service to be publicly subsidised was one.

"We subsidise Air NZ or assist a company such as Air NZ, shouldn't we assist a company such as Toll?" he said. "We recognise the urgency this requires and the four regional councils affected will be working together to see how we can sort this out."

Toll approached Finance Minister Michael Cullen several weeks ago to discuss a public subsidy but both the Government and the rail company decided declining passenger numbers meant the service could not be saved.

Losses on the service were more than $2 million a year, including capital costs.