KiwiRail ‘Cinderella’ comments unhelpful

KiwiRail ‘Cinderella’ comments unhelpful, rail union says

The union for rail workers is questioning whether Steven Joyce’s reference to KiwiRail as a Cinderella foreshadows an intention to cut back on investment in the SOE.

In an interview on Close Up last night Transport Minister Steven Joyce said that KiwiRail had been treated like a Cinderella in New Zealand for a long time.

“What does Steven Joyce mean by this,” Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) General Secretary Wayne Butson said. “Is this the opening shot in a signal to downgrade investment in the company?”

Mr Butson said managing KiwiRail into extinction by systematic mothballing of lines, as was signalled in March, and not having the confidence to bid for construction work, amounts to a defeatist attitude to the New Zealand rail network.

“By introducing an air of decay about the future of the national rail network the government is opening the door wider to a further loss of skilled rail workers to Australia, and missing the opportunity to grow local economies like Dunedin and Lower Hutt.”

Yesterday’s BERL report estimated that building trains needed for Auckland electrification locally would add between 770 to 1270 additional jobs and $232 to $250 million to GDP.

It has been welcomed by chambers of commerce, local authorities and unions.

ENDS

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