CEAC supports resumption of trains from Wairoa to Napier
“CEAC supports resumption of trains from Wairoa to
Napier”.
Press
Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy
Centre
CEAC supports the
beginning of log trains from Wairoa to Napier, - but
we need to resume all freight services to be added to the
service and also restoration of the service extended to
Gisborne again finally also after an eight year
loss of rail freight and passenger service, which caused
truck gridlocked dangerous roads causing many
fatalities.
Subject: FW: log trains began today. from Wairoa to Napier with 30 wagons. 25th January 2020.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408144/reinstated-wairoa-to-napier-rail-line-should-bring-growth
Quote;
“A train loaded with logs will make its way along
the Wairoa to Napier line tomorrow, for the first time in
eight years.
A train loaded with logs
will make its way along the Wairoa to Napier line tomorrow,
for the first time in eight years.
KiwiRail And more jobs are expected to be created
with the restoration of the Wairoa to Napier rail
line.
The line was mothballed after
the Napier to Gisborne line was badly damaged in a storm in
2012.
At the time, the cost of
repairing and maintaining the tracks was deemed too
high.
But it's been restored with a
$6.2 million boost from the Provincial Growth Fund and
trains carrying 1,400 tonnes of logs each weekend will
recommence tomorrow.
David Kriel from
Napier Port said it would provide a welcome boost for the
region.
"It's definitely going to be
more employment for the region because you have a log
staging yard and marshalling onto rail in Wairoa which never
existed before and it's going to unlock the potential of the
region because they will have another lifeline to export out
of Napier Port as opposed to travelling on the road," David
Kriel said.
KiwiRail Chief Operating
Officer Todd Moyle said now that their logging yard consents
were in place, they will run two trains a week, on Saturdays
and Sundays.
"Each train could take up
to 50 long distance truck hauls off the road between Napier
and Wairoa, with 66 percent fewer emissions per tonne of
freight carried by rail compared to trucks," Todd Moyle
said.
Regional Economic Development
Minister Shane Jones said it meant 5000 fewer truck journeys
between Wairoa and Napier each year.
He said the volume of log exports from Hawke's
Bay was expected to remain high until the mid-2030s, and
Wairoa's harvest was part of that picture.
The first log train arrives at Napier Port about
7pm tomorrow.
with 30 wagons. 25th
January 2020.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408144/reinstated-wairoa-to-napier-rail-line-should-bring-growth
CEAC Comment;
Rail must equal the services offered to
road freight operation’s;
Using the “back-haul”
freight system to offer a reduced haulage cost for return
freight on empty wagons where available”.
https://www.freightbrokerbootcamp.com/blog/what-is-a-backhaul/
Quote;
“A
backhaul, as it relates to trucking and logistics, is the
return trip of a commercial truck that is transporting
freight back over all or part of the same route it took to
get to its current location. Both freight brokers and motor
carriers rely heavily on one another when it comes to
backhauls. Let me explain how and why. After delivering
their customer’s freight, motor carriers typically want
and need to get their trucks back to their home base quickly
so they can pick up another load for one of their primary
customers. If one of the carrier’s primary customers
calls him for service and he doesn’t have any available
equipment to pick up the load, that customer is most likely
going to call another carrier which presents a lost revenue
opportunity.”
Unquote;
Truck freight has now become extremely
dominant as the ‘major land transport option’ in the
last 30 years producing unwelcome negative effects to all
who live in our “shared environment” both from inside
our cities and country dwellers alike.
Negative effects
were,
• Increasing environmental road
traffic noise.
• Heavy
vibrations,
• increased air pollution
emissions.
• Tyre dust.
CEAC supports the beginning of log trains from Wairoa to Napier.
• We need to resume all freight services
to be added to the service including
‘backhauls’.
• Restoration of all rail
service extended to Gisborne again finally.
• After an
eight year loss of commercial rail freight and passenger
service.
• Which caused truck gridlocked dangerous
roads causing many fatalities.
• Lower the transport
climate emissions inventory’s to save costs and
charges.
End.