Closing Rail Lines Is Short-Sighted And Constrains Future Economic Growth

The government’s proposals to close provincial rail lines are short-sighted and reduce both New Zealand’s ability to deal with emergency situations and the potential for economic growth in the medium and long term. This is the view of The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), the politically independent incorporated society which is committed to better transport alternatives for Auckland and New Zealand.

“The government is supposedly focusing on productivity growth and improved infrastructure, so recent statements by the Transport Minister Steven Joyce on options to close provincial rail lines are extremely disappointing”, says Dr Francis Reid, a CBT Committee Member. “Traditional industries such as forestry, dairy and mining are likely to be big drivers of economic growth, and this means rail lines that aren’t currently being heavily used will become more important in the future for moving timber, dairy products, coal and other minerals”, says Dr Reid.

“Once lines are closed, it’s very expensive to reopen them” adds Jon Reeves, another CBT Committee Member. “The experience internationally, and in New Zealand on lines such as the Rotorua line, is that once a line is mothballed or closed, the line deteriorates very quickly – rails and sleepers go missing, and in most cases the entire line needs to be relaid at great expense. If the government believes that economic growth will occur in provincial areas, it makes sense to keep these rail lines open to save a great deal of money in ten or twenty years time”.

The Campaign for Better Transport is dubious that the government’s motives are purely financial, commercial or objective. “We’re beginning to worry that the current government has an ideological dislike of rail – their rail investments in urban areas are being made rather reluctantly, and they are happy to see long distance passenger and freight rail services decay and decline” says Dr Reid, “yet at the same time they are happy to fund their so-called roads of national significance, even though many of those roads appear to have costs that outweigh their benefits”.

New Zealand’s provincial rail lines provide a transport alternative to the roading network, and given New Zealand is prone to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami, such a back up is particularly important. Mothballed or closed lines do not provide quick or effective back up in case of a major disaster.

“In the context of New Zealand’s annual transport expenditure, the amount required to keep these lines open is relatively insignificant – yet if we close them, the reality is that we lose them forever”, concludes Reeves – “It’s time to move beyond blinkered roads versus rail debates and acknowledge that these provincial rail lines are important for our country’s future economic growth and as backup to other transport systems”.

ENDS.

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