Timber company shifts from road to rail

Media release
For immediate release
April 9, 2009

Central North Island Timber company shifts from road to rail

The decision by a major central North Island timber mill to switch from road to rail to move its export products to Wellington’s CentrePort, is a result of KiwiRail Group’s push to link major industrial and commercial sites to main lines.

“Re-establishing the railway siding at WPI Timber’s Tangiwai timber mill in the Central North Island connects us to a major customer,” said KiwiRail Group’s Commercial General Manager Aaron Temperton. “By making minor adjustments to existing freight services which run past the mill, we have been able to offer a competitive service that is a win for the mill and ourselves, not to mention the benefits to the environment.”

The switch to rail, using an existing freight service, will mean around 2000 fewer truck movements a year, and associated environmental benefits. It follows an agreement reached between KiwiRail Group and WPI Timber to reinstate and upgrade a disused siding at the Tangiwai timber mill.

Aaron Temperton says the new business has been made possible by comparatively modest investment in infrastructure and adds further robustness to an existing service that runs past the mill.

“We have a strong relationship with WPI which meant we were able to identify this opportunity and are continuing to look at other business opportunities within their group,” he said.

ONTRACK – the infrastructure arm of KiwiRail Group - expects to have the siding ready for use by mid-May. It has also leased land to the mill for the additional space needed to load the timber onto the wagons. A new transit store will be built next to the siding to ensure the timber is staged and kept undercover before it is loaded onto the wagons.

The mill, a division of WPI International expects to move about 50,000 cubic metres of sawn timber each year, but there is the potential for significant increase in these volumes, so the siding will be built to accommodate future business growth, Mr Temperton says.

The company had been using road to move its export product to Wellington from the mill on SH 49.

The export timber will be carried on the existing daily rail service that runs to and from the nearby Karioi Pulp Mill, also owned by WPI.

‘By making some minor changes to the configuration of that service, we have the capacity to carry the sawn timber,” Mr Temperton says. “Pulp volumes vary during the week, and as we cater for the larger loads, the additional timber business means better utilisation of the existing wagon fleet we have available for this service.”

WPI has sought funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Alternative To Road (ATR) scheme to assist with financing the initiative.

Mr Temperton says one of KiwiRail Group’s key priorities is to extend the rail network to connect to more customers, and the group is investigating a number of initiatives similar to this around the country.

In Auckland work will start shortly on building a new rail siding into the Ports of Auckland’s inland port at Wiri.

“Compared to the costs of improving the roading network, comparatively modest investment in rail infrastructure significantly increases the amount of freight we can haul, not to mention the associated environmental and safety benefits of rail.”

ENDS

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