Claims of 22,000 TEU ships coming to NZ are rubbish (as are closing POAL in favour of Northport)

A fellow called Ian Turner posting on the Campaign for Better Transport page is a fantasist who believes that Maersk Line are going to send their 22,000 TEU container ships to New Zealand in the next few years. According to Turner and a very few associates this means every other port in NZ except Northport will have to close down as none of them can be made deep enough to take these ships. They even believe Port of Auckland should close down so that it can be moved to Northport.

Some facts are in order here:

1. There are no plans by Maersk Line or anyone else to bring 22,000 TEU container ships to New Zealand any time in the foreseeable future. 
2. Closing POAL is not widely supported even though there has been a ginger group trying to stop the further development of it. 
3. POAL has a consent to dredge their channel deeper to handle the size of ships that are likely to come to New Zealand over the next 20 years. 
4. Currently Port of Tauranga is the only port in NZ that can handle the 9000 TEU container ships, other ports are gearing up to equip themselves and/or dredge to receive ships of this size. This size of ship is the largest container vessel expected to visit NZ between now and roughly 2035. 
5. There will be incremental increase in ships visiting in NZ gradually over the future but there is in no way going to be a sudden leap from 9000 TEU to 22,000 TEU, it is just not going to happen that way.
6. The NZ Shipping Council believes there need to be four container ports over the whole of NZ able to receive the largest vessels (9000 TEU), not one single port. This is very important for several reasons
• The international ships move a significant volume of domestic containers around the coastline of NZ as it is. This is important because moving this volume by sea is much cheaper than land based transport options, including rail.
• Landing containers closest to the urban centre they are going to is much more cost effective than railing them all from Northport to anywhere in NZ. 
• Railing from Northport to Auckland would require huge expenditure on the North Auckland Line which is a sunk cost, whereas nothing needs to be spent on the blue highway or the port infrastructure to keep moving the containers by sea as they are now.
• Northport would need billions of dollars spent on it to equip it to handle large container ships. They are currently no better equipped than Port of Napier in this regard without a dedicated container wharf and proper cranes, they just have mobile cranes which are slower working than overhead cranes. 
• By the time you get down to the South Island the cost of moving the containers would be much greater. At the moment there is already coastal shipping used to move containers by sea between Tauranga and Timaru. If you are going to use a ship to move the international containers it may as well be the ship that carried them on their overseas voyage.
7. The four ports mentioned above being likely Auckland, Tauranga, Lyttelton and Otago. Hence Napier, Centreport, Nelson and Northport would not be international container terminals.
8. Similarly the Shipping Council has had the research done, by international transport experts, to determine the size trend for container ships, they are credibly saying there is no likelihood of the Maersk Triple E or any similar size of container ship (mega-ship) coming to NZ in the foreseeable future.
9. One of the biggest issues with mega ships is that the BCR actually drops even though they are cheaper to run per unit of freight, the reason is that very large sums have to be spent on infrastructure on the land to handle these very large volumes of containers that would be moving on and off such a ship.
10. If this type of ship came to NZ it would reduce the frequency of shipping services, this is very material when handling perishable goods that we export overseas.
11. Northport is no more of a deepwater port than say Port of Tauranga. There is no inherent advantage that Northport has for large ships than any of the other major ports. The nonsense statements that Northport is the only ship that can handle Triple E class ships is wrong firstly because they will never come here and secondly because contrary to claims, all the other ports can be dredged easily to the required depth.
12. Northport does not have a deeper channel that is free from dredging compared to other major ports. It would still need to be dredged. There is a very small advantage over Tauranga in terms of channel length but that is inconsequential. There is some advantage over Auckland, Lyttelton and Otago which all have relatively long entrance channels that need to be dredged but in practice this will not amount to much.

The idea of closing POAL in favour of Northport is being championed by a few hardcore rail enthusiasts and most notably Winston Peters and others from NZ First. Since Winston Peters and Shane Jones have strong connections in the Northland region it is obvious they are playing pork barrel politics to try and buy votes. The entire proposal is ridiculous. It now looks like the government wants Ports of Auckland to stay where it is. They have committed to a ports study for the Upper North Island but that is all.

Ten reasons Auckland Transport has chosen light rail

Very pertinent as heavy rail fans are hoping they can still get their preferred line to the airport against a backlash from the public around the rest of NZ against a national fuel tax levy.

Ten reasons Auckland Transport has chosen light rail

1. Heavy rail won't address the lack of terminal space space in the CBD

2. Heavy rail provides less network resilience and operational constraints limit its capacity

3. Mass transit on the airport to city corridor via Dominion Road will supplement the rail network and make it more resilient

4. Light rail can provide a one-seat ride to the city centre, just like heavy rail

5. The Dominion Road corridor offers service benefits for the whole isthmus and addresses access issues at each end of the corridor

6. Heavy rail access from Manukau to airport via Puhinui could cause overloading and sharing with freight, for one extra station and no extra catchment

7. The issue of bus congestion in the city centre remains a problem under heavy rail

8. Light rail provides accessibility, connectivity, catchment, housing and development potential for the same investment

9. Light rail serves the main Auckland isthmus

10. Light rail adds extra corridors and transport modes to the network, making it more resilient.

https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/airport-and-mangere-rail/

https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/light-rail/

https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/04/03/what-about-airport-heavy-rail-from-puhinui/

https://at.govt.nz/media/1971230/south-western-airport-multi-modal-corridor-project-scoping-report-final-draft.pdf

https://at.govt.nz/media/1866351/item-11-6-smart-preferred-way-forward-final.pdf

"The Great Rail Revival" article in NZ Listener (republished in Noted)

"Noted" have republished this article which first appeared in "The Listener" on 2 December this year. There is a lot of detail in this in depth study.

What I am going to focus on in particular is the run down of the rail network as identified in that article. Specifically:

Reidy doesn’t dispute that the company is burdened by decades of deferred maintenance and asset renewals. For instance, the average age of South Island locomotives is 45 years. There are wooden bridges more than 100 years old, one of which – on the line between Christchurch and Greymouth, which carries the world-famous TranzAlpine tourist train – was badly damaged in a scrub fire earlier this year, closing the line for six weeks. If that bridge had been made of steel, says Reidy, the line would have been out for only three or four days. “The fire was an incident that goes to the heart of the lack of resilience as a result of many, many years of underinvestment,” he says.  The company has estimated it needs $300-450 million of capital a year just to make up for the  investment deficit and maintain a safe and resilient standard of assets.

My posting yesterday about the Napier-Gisborne line long term maintenance deterioration was used to highlight this decades-long underfunding. It has been easy just to study one single line and research its history, in this case. I have no real knowledge of the situation applying to other lines, as the information available in this case about the Napier-Gisborne line is was wrapped into the reports done by Kiwirail when they put the case for mothballing. It is generally naive to think that line could just have been quickly reopened by fixing the washouts without being aware the whole route is highly susceptible to weather-related events and has been since it opened.

The debate over the lack of funding for maintaining the rail lines should be seen in context as well. The National Government introduced regulations allowing significantly larger trucks onto highways without guaranteeing that improvements would be funded to those highways. Hence there is widespread concern that rural highway improvements are not being properly funded. There will be a legacy of catchup funding needed for highways if the volume of freight being carried there continues to increase as it has lately.

• http://www.noted.co.nz/money/the-great-rail-revival-why-its-time-to-get-rail-back-on-track/

Peketahi combined bridge being de-railed

This article is from the FRONZ journal No.163 published earlier this year.

The bridge as it stands was first constructed with the opening of the ECMT extension to Taneatua in the late 1920s and was a combined structure from the outset. With the closure of the branch line many years ago it has only been used for road traffic. It would seem rather unlikely the line will ever be reinstated and although technically just mothballed, with the passing years more and more of it progressively has disappeared. A section of track is currently operated by Awakeri Rail Adventures.

Labour's 2017 campaign transport policies [2]: General Rail Transport

Comments

The best parts of these policies include:

• Regional rapid passenger rail in the Golden Triangle
• Commuter rail to Christchurch
• Improvements in bus services in North Canterbury
• Halt de-electrification of the NIMT
• Develop a congestion-free network for Wellington
• Investigate the North Auckland line spur to Marsden Point and upgrade the entire route to take trucks off the roads.

Questionable parts of these policies include:

• Given the many studies that have been done on urban passenger transport in Christchurch it should have been possible to commit to a much greater level of commuter train service development. (Around $200 million would be needed to fund full development across all of the Christchurch rail network)
• Reopening the Napier-Gisborne line is questionable given its poor track record its entire life of high construction and maintenance costs and low traffic volumes, and the availability of other transport modes such as coastal shipping to provide an alternative and much less costly means of moving large volumes of freight out of Gisborne. Labour's policy adds the condition that the service must be sustainable, which seems to recognise that the Napier-Gisborne line could well struggle to make a viable business case.

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Rapid Rail in the Golden Triangle

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The ‘Golden Triangle’, comprising Auckland, Hamilton, and Tauranga and their surrounding regions, is home to two and a half million people, our two largest ports, and our largest airport. The regions within the Golden Triangle account for half of the economy.

The Golden Triangle’s growth is set to continue with a further 800,000 people projected to be living in the area by 2043 – accounting for three-quarters of  New Zealand’s population growth in the next 25 years and lifting the Golden Triangle’s population to three and a quarter million. 

To make the most of this growth, we need the cities and towns to be connected with a fast, reliable transport system to move commuters, tourists, and freight.

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Labour will:

• create a passenger rail service linking Auckland, Hamilton, and Tauranga and, if justified by demand, upgrade it in stages to a rapid rail network throughout the Golden Triangle.

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The Regional Rapid Rail report lays out a plan to create a regional rail network based around the existing lines with fast passenger and freight services that will take pressure off the roads, re-vitalise small towns on the routes, and super-charge economic growth in the region.

The plan lays out three stages, starting with a passenger service that will offer a journey time of three and a half hours from Tauranga once per day, and just over two hours from Hamilton four times per day. Trains will go through to Auckland’s Ōtāhuhu station, where passengers will connect to the Auckland commuter network. 

To support the first stage of the Regional Rapid Rail plan, Labour is committing $10m of capital funding. An additional $10m of operational funding will be allocated over five years.

Following proof-of-concept in the first stage, and if demand justifies it after an independent business case, Labour will look to invest in the second and third stages.

The second stage would see new tilt-trains, and upgrades of stations, signals, and crossings to allow greater speeds. In the third stage, new lines would be opened extending the network to Rotorua and regional towns, and a new tunnel would be constructed through the Bombay Hills. Ultimately, a network with speeds of up to 160km/h for passengers and freight, connecting Tauranga to Auckland’s Britomart station in two and a quarter hours, would be achieved.

Our rapid rail solution for the Golden Triangle underlines Labour’s commitment to funding 21st century transport solutions to cater for population growth and economic development in New Zealand.

Investing in public transport for Greater Christchurch

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Labour will invest in infrastructure to support the long-term growth and prosperity of Greater Christchurch.

Cantabrians have seen dramatic changes in the years following the earthquakes, with unexpected population growth in some areas and significant economic development in others. After nine years in office, National has failed to make the investments needed to keep up with these changes and a growing population.

This is causing increasing congestion in the city. Congestion now adds 29 minutes a day to the average commute. Only three per cent of commuters in Greater Christchurch take public transport to work, compared to seven percent in Auckland and 12 per cent in Wellington.

It’s time for additional public transport infrastructure to reduce congestion on our roads and better link major centres of population with central Christchurch.

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Labour will:

Commit an additional $100m from the National Land Transport Fund in capital investment to Greater Christchurch multi-modal public transport, including commuter rail from Rolleston to the CBD as a first step. We’ll work with local authorities and other partners on a 21st century strategic multi-modal transport plan for Greater Christchurch.

Restoring commuter rail in Christchurch has been proposed since before the earthquakes. The shift in population and resulting congestion has increased the need to utilise the existing rail tracks as an inexpensive means of boosting Greater Christchurch’s transport capacity.

The first step will be a commuter rail service between Rolleston and the CBD. Rolleston’s population more than tripled between 2006 and 2016. Traffic volumes on the Southern Motorway are rising at five per cent a year.

The Rolleston to CBD commuter rail will use the existing rail corridor with new and renovated stations, with double-tracking where needed. The first step will see rail come into the Addington station with buses available from there to the rest of the CBD. This will be a permanent service, not the expensive temporary service that has previously been considered. The network will be expanded over time as suitable.

Along with commuter rail, the $100m investment will be available to support infrastructure for buses and bus feeder services as determined through consultation with local councils. These investments will ease congestion and open up areas like Rolleston, Rangiora, Kaiapoi for residential and commercial development. In combination with KiwiBuild, these investments will spark revitalisation of suburban town centres.

As the upgraded commuter rail systems in Auckland and Wellington have proven, there is huge latent demand for this option. With congestion worsening in Greater Christchurch, now is the time to unlock the railways for commuters.

This forms part of Labour’s plan to take a breather on migration and speed up infrastructure investment throughout the country until our cities can cope with demand.

Wellington network plan

Labour will:

• Develop a Congestion Free Network plan and fast-track a feasibility study on rapid transit to the airport, which considers light rail. 

Regional and long-distance rail

Labour will:

• Instruct Kiwirail to retain an electrified network between Hamilton and Palmerston North and work on an evidence-based plan to progressively electrify other key parts of the network.
• Re-open moth-balled railway lines where community and business support exists, and there is evidence that the service would be sustainable, notably the Napier to Gisborne rail line.
• investigate a rail line to Marsden Point and Northport and upgrading the North Auckland Line to take pressure off the roads in Northland.

Labour's 2017 campaign transport policies [1] - Auckland Transport

Here are the detailed policy promises for transport made by the Labour Party in the 2017 election campaign.

Auckland Transport

Probably the best parts of this policy are:

• Light rail from the CBD to the airport.
• BRT from Howick to the airport
• Increasing the electric train services etc
• Increasing cross town bus services

Questionable aspects of the policy include:

• Auckland Regional fuel tax. This should be called what it is - a rates increase by another name, since almost everyone depends on motor vehicles to move around the city at some point. In addition, economists have estimated the tax will cost everyone an average of $10 a week and that it will be a regressive tax affecting the poor. Congestion charging should be implemented instead.

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Auckland’s population grew 14 per cent between 2008/09 and 2015/16, with a 16 per cent increase in state highway traffic volumes and a 35 per cent increase in public transport boardings in the region. Yet spending via the New Zealand Transport Agency on new and improved transport infrastructure in Auckland hasn’t increased.

Congestion has worsened dramatically in recent years and costs Auckland nearly $2b a year. Average speeds at peak times have fallen nearly 10km/h since 2014. Delaying projects that would reduce congestion is a false economy. The cost of doing nothing is too high for Aucklanders and for business.

It’s time to accelerate investment in Auckland transport.

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Labour will:

• Build light rail from the CBD to Auckland Airport. This will be part of a new light rail network that will be built over the next decade with routes to the central suburbs, the airport, and West Auckland, and will later be extended to the North Shore
• Build a new Bus Rapid Transit line from Howick to the airport, starting with a bus service which will connect Puhinui and Manukau train stations to the airport in one year
• Invest in more electric trains, electrification to Pukekohe, and building a third main trunk line urgently between Westfield and Papakura
• Build a range of significant cross-town bus priority routes including New Lynn-Flat Bush, Point Chevalier-Botany, Silverdale-Whangaparaoa, and Howick-Glenfield
• Allow Auckland Council to collect a regional fuel tax to fund the acceleration of these investments, along with infrastructure bonds and targeted rates to capture value uplift.

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These projects will ease congestion, reducing wasted time and fuel costs. They will make our biggest city an even better place to live. Getting more people on to high-quality public transport will unclog our roads.

Rail to the airport is crucial for Auckland’s future growth. Waiting 30 years is simply not an option given the congestion that exists on the roads already. A world-class city in the 21st century needs a rail connection from its CBD to its airport.

This policy revises the Auckland Transport Alignment Plan and adds additional projects laid out in the Congestion Free Network plan. In total, there will be an extra $3.3b investment, comprising both new and accelerated projects over the next 20 years.

Light rail network and heavy rail improvements will be brought forward from the second and third decades into the first decade. Light rail to Mt Roskill will take four years to build, with the lines through to the airport and West Auckland completed within a decade. New bus improvement projects will also be carried out in the first decade. In the second decade, we will expand the light rail network to the North Shore.

Costs will be avoided by building the airport and North Western routes as light rail from the start, rather than initially doing bus improvements. Some lower-value projects will be delayed and the cost of the East-West Link will be reduced by adopting an option with a better benefit to cost ratio, saving $1.2b.

Labour will invest a net $2.1b extra in Auckland transport infrastructure. These increased investments and the existing funding gap in the ATAP will be met with new funding sources. A Regional Fuel Tax is forecast to raise $160m a year at 10 cents a litre. Labour will give Auckland Council the ability to use new methods of funding infrastructure, like infrastructure bonds and targeted rates.

Labour's Improvements to Auckland Transport Alignment Plan:

Projects accelerated to the next ten years: 

• Light rail - CBD to Central Suburbs and airport
• Light rail - CBD to West Auckland 
• Bus Rapid Transit - Howick to the airport 
• Third rail line - Westfield to Papakura 
• Additional electric trains 
• Better value for money East-West Link

New projects in the next ten years:

• Bus priority route - New Lynn to Flat Bush 
• Bus priority route - Point Chevalier to Botany 
• Bus priority route - Silverdale to Whangaparaoa
• Bus priority route - Howick to Glenfield

Projects accelerated to the second decade:

• Light rail - CBD to North Shore 
• Further rail improvements 

Maori Party's "IwiRail" proposal (2017 election)

There is not much available about this policy, it was detailed in the policy launch at the below site.
http://www.maoriparty.org/iwirail_launch

Overall, the policy appears to borrow significantly from New Zealand First's regional development policy proposals.

The detail in the policy is really limited to comments about rail lines in Gisborne, including a proposal to connect Gisborne to Kawerau with a new rail line. This is likely to be a rehash of the ancient Gisborne-Opotiki proposals (which became in part the Moutohora Branch, closed in 1959).

The Moutohora Branch proposal was canned in 1959 by Labour. It had been under serious consideration for decades at that time. The government of that period essentially sent the signal that it would not ever be a priority for completion. Although from time to time the proposal is refloated, it isn't very likely to ever happen.

The Māori Party unveiled a new plan today aimed at supporting isolated communities and businesses in the regions to get their goods to market, create jobs and open up opportunities for them to participate in the country’s economy.

“Rail was built to bring people together and to get goods in and out but that’s not happening in the regions. For far too long our regions have suffered and our people have been forced to move overseas. We say its time to stop the braindrain – bring on IwiRail,”says Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

“Rail was built on the backs of our ancestors, on Māori land,” says Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox. “One of the key focuses of IwiRail is to bring back the 15,000 rail jobs and apprenticeships which existed before the Labour Government put a hatchet to rail in the mid-1980s,” says Ms Fox.

“This is a gateway of opportunities for iwi because it’ll bring them to the table and unleash untapped potential – potential good for not only Māori, but this nation and its economy,” says Māori Party president Tukoroirangi Morgan.

The plan has the potential to inject $1 billion into the regions and create faster and better connected rail links to boost tourism and job creation.

Connecting Gisborne to the East Coast Main Trunkline in Kawerau and bringing back the moth-balled Napier-Gisborne rail link alone could bring back more than a thousand rail jobs to the coast, according to Mrs Fox.

“The increased economic activity projected for the IwiRail network, which will include a high-speed rail corridor, could indirectly generate thousands of new jobs across our regions by 2025,” says Ms Fox.

About $350-$450 million will be needed to make the plan happen and Mrs Fox said that’s more then possible as that’s only 12% of what the Government currently spends on transport.

NZ First’s “Railways of National Importance” policy platform (2017) [3]

Here are the last few bits of the programme and the statements of what Kiwirail should be structured as.

11. New suburban services
New suburban passenger train services will be investigated for Christchurch, Dunedin, Tauranga and between Hamilton and Auckland.
This includes an initial investigation into establishing suburban passenger train services in Christchurch, Dunedin, Tauranga and between Hamilton and Auckland using Auckland’s surplus diesel rolling stock immediately following the introduction of electric services in Auckland.

For Christchurch this could cost up to $200 million. There's doubt that Dunedin is big enough to warrant suburban train services being reinstated after a 35 year gap.

12. Rail siding grant scheme
New Zealand First will introduce a grant scheme to encourage greater use of rail transport by industry and by distribution centres, where the cost of installing or re-commissioning rail sidings will be met 50/50 by the businesses using the rail siding and the New Zealand Railways Corporation.

New Railways structure proposed by NZ First
KiwiRail would be restructured by splitting it into three new  organisations:
1. New Zealand Railways Corporation - owning and managing rail land, tracks and infrastructure, stations and rail-freight centres, shunting yards, workshops, train control systems, managing and maintaining the rail network, allocating access to the rail network for rail operating companies, setting rail training standards and qualifications, and acting as the rail regulator and licence agency.
2. Kiwi Rail - operating rail passenger services between all main centres, and operating the Interisland ferries.
3. Rail Freight – a new State Owned Enterprise operating a commercial rail freight business.

To have a commercial rail freight business implies open access or competition for rail freight operations. This will see the same challenges as currently occur in road transport where intense and rapacious competition between operators see safety standards widely flouted and accident rates increasing. Kiwirail is already under pressure to cut costs and such a move will not do anything to reduce this pressure.

Overall, the policy on "Railways of National Significance" seems to have limited reporting and detail available. There have been a few speeches by Winston Peters referring to it, but as I noted the detail appears to be missing in action.

NZ First’s "Railways of National Importance” policy platform (2017) [2]

Again these are the statements of what these projects are, from 2014. I have not been able to find any detail anywhere about the policies; unlike other parties, the NZ First party does not have detailed policy documents on its website.

Now looking into more detail of various RONI projects. My comments are basically unaltered from three years ago.

1. North Auckland  and Marsden Point Line
Northland needs good rail connections to the rest of New Zealand if it is to grow. That means upgrading the Auckland to Whangarei line. Good rail links to Northland means developing a rail link from the main line to Marsden Point port, which has great advantages as a deepwater harbour that does not require dredging. There is also plenty of land for expansion.  There is great scope for it to serve as a container port and take pressure off Auckland and Tauranga. The potential of the Port of Northland for the region, as well as for the country as a whole, is being strangled by lack of an effective rail link.

2. Rolling Electrification Programme
New Zealand First proposes an on-going rail electrification programme to use the skills and expertise built up in the current Auckland suburban rail electrification project. The first project will be to extend electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe. Other potential projects to be investigated include electrification between Auckland and Hamilton, Hamilton and Tauranga, and extending electrification north from Waikanae and from Upper Hutt to Masterton. Many other projects for electrification would follow in later years:
- Lyttelton-Christchurch-Greymouth.
- Christchurch suburban area.
- Picton-Christchurch-Dunedin-Invercargill.

3. Regional Opportunities
Funds will be made available for smaller capital investment opportunities that KiwiRail is unable to fund given its current funding constraints.
In particular, $4m will be used reinstate the Napier –Gisborne line as soon as possible.

The long term costs of reinstating the Gisborne line are much greater than this relatively small amount for a one-off reinstatement. 

4. Cook Strait Ferries
The Cook Strait Ferry service and vessels will be funded for upgrades to ensure a high quality fast reliable and safe service for freight and passengers.

5. Auckland-Pokeno-Paeroa-Te Aroha-Tauranga-Whakatane
A new line to be built along the rail formation between Pokeno-Paeroa-Te Aroha, a new line to be built between Te Aroha and the western portal of the Kaimai tunnel and a new line to be built between Awakeri and Whakatane, all combined creating a shorter and more direct rail route into the Bay of Plenty.

The Pokeno-Paeroa line was never more than some formation works as it was never brought into operation. The same (small) saving in distance over the existing route to Tauranga could easily be achieved by the much cheaper expedient of moving the existing ECMT junction from Frankton to Taupiri. Awakeri-Whakatane is basically the old siding to the Whakatane Board Mills, but also needs the reinstatement of the Taneatua Branch to Awakeri.

6. Auckland-Hamilton-Tokoroa-Rotorua-Taupo
A new line to be built between Kinleith-Rotorua-Taupo primarily for forestry traffic, as well as for general freight and passengers.

7. Nelson-Blenheim
A new line to be built between Blenheim and Nelson, completing this long proposed project for freight and passengers.        

Nelson never had a through railway at any time in its history. 

8. Auckland International Airport
A new line to be built to link the Auckland International Airport with the rail system. The proposed new integrated terminal at Auckland (like that built at Christchurch International Airport) is already being designed to accommodate a rail terminal within the building.

Debate continues over the best railway system for Auckland. Light rail is a viable alternative as it is difficult to get airport passengers to use public transport.

9. Auckland City Rail Link
Build the Auckland City Rail Link tunnel project under central Auckland as soon as possible, jointly funded with the Auckland Council.

Already underway in Auckland City.

10. Northland
New lines to be built to link the rail system with ports in Northland between Oakleigh and Northport at Marsden Point, and Otiria and Opua in the Bay of Islands.

Marsden Point and Opua are two different systems. Opua is a much smaller port, why would rail to there be important.

NZ First "Railways of National Importance" (2017) [1]

This is a post about the 2014 policy. It is a republishing of a previous article with some updates by me. I have not received any new information about the policy as it is difficult to find very much about it. Below is the actual statement of policy as it was listed in 2014. The next part of this series will address some of the points raised.

• New Zealand First will ensure that none of New Zealand’s railway lines and other strategic railways infrastructure will be privatised, and will remain under state control and ownership to ensure that public service rather than commercial objectives is the paramount consideration.
• New Zealand First’s vision includes passenger train services along all rail routes between the main centres, with connecting coach services linking outlying areas or running services between centres which don't have a railway line. These services would provide a mixture of accommodation standards and fares to make rail services more affordable for New Zealanders to use e.g. half the carriages to be high standard premium fare similar to that provided on current KiwiRail tourist focussed trains such as the Northern Explorer and Tranz Alpine services, and the other half of the carriages being basic, affordable economy fare intercity market, e.g. railcars would have one premium carriage and one economy carriage. The Silver Fern railcars, former Overlander carriages and Silver Star carriages could be appropriately refurbished and upgraded locally in railway workshops to operate daytime regional Intercity services. Fast modern railcars and new carriages, New Zealand built where possible, could later be purchased for certain routes.
• As a state-owned enterprise, KiwiRail is currently heavily constrained because it is required to pay for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of rail infrastructure through the revenue generated from its freight and other businesses.
• New Zealand’s rail network is a national asset that must be developed to optimise its long term role in support of New Zealand’s economy and of an efficient and cost effective multi-modal and well integrated transport system.
• New Zealand First will develop a programme of railways of national importance (RONI) to ensure that better use of our railway network and services are achieved, with improvements and extensions where there is opportunity to significantly reduce dependence on the roading network, especially for heavy freight and bulk freight services, but also where passenger services can be redeveloped to attract sufficient demand over time.
• To this end New Zealand First will not require the whole cost of development of new railway tracks and services, and of electric reticulation, to be met by revenue generated by railway service charges; and these will instead be met in whole or in part by a combination of Land Transport Fund funding and crown grants.
• The Land Transport Fund funding will be achieved by reallocating funding from the current RONS $12 billion plus programme. An initial budget of $400 million would be created by reprioritising Roads of National Significance (RONS) projects that have low or marginal benefits.
• The rail routes listed below would form the basis of the core transport network between the main centres with daily passenger and freight services, and with the tracks being upgraded or new lines built as required, together with new transport interchanges between trains and buses, and freight hubs in all the main centres:
• Auckland-Whangarei-Opua
• Auckland-Pokeno-Paeroa-Te Aroha-Tauranga-Whakatane
• Auckland-Hamilton-Tokoroa-Rotorua-Taupo
• Auckland-Wellington
• Wellington-New Plymouth
• Wellington-Gisborne (via the Wairarapa line)
• Nelson-Blenheim
• Christchurch-Greymouth
• Picton-Christchurch-Dunedin-Invercargill.

Briefing to Incoming Minister: Kiwirail

The Government has released the BIM documents that show the information that incoming ministers have received on various portfolios and areas of responsibility. This is a summary and commentary on the BIM for Kiwirail, which can be read here.

The Kiwirail BIM is a straightforward document that sets out the history of the organisation and its achievements to date. The most relevant part for policy formation for the incoming document is best located in the sections headed "Challenges" and "Opportunities" on pages 16-17.

The listed challenges include :

• Digital disruption, including big data, smart data, AI and automation.
• North Island population growth resulting in increased demand for commuter services.
• Shifts in international freight flows.
• Volatile international commodity markets.
• Environmental and sustainability issues.
• Reinstating the Main North Line after the Kaikoura Earthquake to its full capacity for customers.
• Ageing rolling stock impacting the reliability of services.
• Alignment with unions on strategic priorities to drive productivity.
• Shareholder alignment on rail policy and funding mechanisms.
• Competitively servicing the market and providing resilience across Cook Strait.
• Building risk based systems and worker participation to deliver a step change for health and safety performance.
• Attracting and retaining talent in a competitive market to mitigate Kiwirail's ageing workforce.
• Growing use of passenger rail
• Crucial need of a long term funding profile to support longer term decision making on simplifying the business, standardising assets  and investing in people to support growth strategies.

A summary of the key points could include: the need for funding certainty (subsidies), commuter and passenger service capability, maintaining rolling stock, attracting young people to work for Kiwirail.

While opportunities include:

• Domestic freight market modal share growth
• New freight sectors such as fuel transportation
• Inland hubs/IMEX ports
• Maximising property less revenue and divesting non-rail required land
• HPHE with unions to drive productivity engagements
• Regional commuter rail services such as Auckland to Hamilton
• Common user terminal approach for Cook Strait ferries
• Auckland Network Integrated Operating Model
• Highlighting Kiwirail's sustainability story and contribution to regional economies

Some of the issues which are not mentioned and which should be brought into the debate include: Whether the achievements of key development strategies like the Turnaround Plan and Commercial Review have the right balance in terms of commercial strategies and policies for Kiwirail. Examples of key decisions that have been included in these challenges that are open to question include:

• Reducing capacity in the rail freight ferry operations by choosing not to replace withdrawn rail ferries
• De-electrifying the North Island Main Trunk
• Large scale contracting out of key maintenance services such as locomotive and rolling stock overhauls and track construction and maintenance.

It remains to be seen whether the current board is capable of revisiting some of these decisions should the government choose to highlight some of these issues. Kiwirail would probably say the previous administration failed to guarantee enough funding to ensure the historic operational models of these services could be maintained.

The operation of commuter services is largely driven through local government administration of the development and partial funding of them although NZTA funds a percentage of these services. At present Kiwirail does not operate many of these services but does provide the infrastructure they run on.

During the term of the previous administration only a few rail lines were downgraded or stopped operating. Key among them was the Napier to Gisborne line and the North Auckland line. The PNGL is to be considered for re-opening while funding for an upgrade of the North Auckland route has already been announced. The government has announced a focus on regional rail development but it seems unlikely lines like Rotorua Branch and SOL would be re-opened in future.

Kiwirail has claimed that non-rail related land should be divested. A key question is where this land is located. Anything that is either a present day or former rail corridor should not be divested.

Kiwirail is only of a number of transport modes in New Zealand and it remains to be seen what the best fit on a case by case basis will be for a range of different options including road and sea transport.