Waikato freight rail link reopens

Toll NZ is highlighting the success of a revival in rail services to dairy co-operative Fonterra in the Waikato as it continues to argue with the Government about the cost of access to the rail network.

Toll NZ said today that for the first time in 16 years the rail link into the Tirau Fonterra dairy factory in the Waikato is back in use.

The link is part of a logistics plan announced last year under which Fonterra built a giant new dry goods warehouse in Crawford St in Hamilton linked to rail.

The plan revived rail services to Fonterra sites around the Waikato and it also links to rail lines that go to both Port of Tauranga and Ports of Auckland.

"The last time rail operated from this site (Tirau) was back in the late 1980s when the then rail operator, NZ Rail lost this business to road," Toll NZ said.

"This is the second line to re open in the Waikato thanks to the Crawford Street hub. Last year the Waitoa Line into the Waitoa Fonterra diary factory also reopened after being out of commission for 14 years."

Fonterra now links its freight operations at Te Awamutu, Morrinsville, Waitoa, Hautapu, Waharoa, Lichfield and Tirau manufacturing sites by rail to the Crawford St site.

The development of the Crawford St site and the associated rail services are estimated to take 45,000 truck movements out of the Waikato region.

Fonterra last year signed a 20 year agreement with Toll noting that increasing traffic congestion on roads to the ports of Auckland and Tauranga made rail a competitive, sustainable, long-term transport option.

Toll NZ has been in protracted negotiations with the Government and track owner Ontrack about fees Toll NZ pays for access to the government-owned track.

The fees are supposed to recover all the costs of the rail network once the Government invested $200 million.

But Toll and others, including the rail union, and the Greens, argue the Government is investing more in roads than in rail and rail will not be competitive unless there is more investment in the network.

- NZPA