Repairs on Napier-Gisborne Line Bridge 290 (Waipaoa River)

This article was clipped from the FRONZ journal No.169 September 2017.

This may well have been overtaken by the change of government and focus on possible re-opening of the Gisborne line by the Labour-NZ First-Green coalition government.

Labour's policy for this line stated it could re-open if found to be sustainable. There is no real information that I can find on what the policy being adopted by the coalition government is.

The situation for the line is that with its low level of viability almost since the day it opened the condition at any one time has been at a relatively low standard and this is simply a fact of reality of the priority for resourcing within the national railway network. If the new government chooses to increase funding to enable the line to be restored and maintained further, they also need to accept that the work does not simply consist of repairing the washouts which have occurred in multiple locations. This blog details the original four locations that were reported on when the line was mothballed in 2012 and more recent aerial photography has shown up quite a lot of other damage in places.

To ensure the line can continue operation, if it is fully reopened, the future maintenance needs will need to be addressed also. For the last 30 years long-term maintenance has been patchy, resulting in extended periods of closure to remediate problems. This makes it difficult to keep customers happy when the services can be disrupted for a long period of time. The areas that would need to be addressed include weatherproofing over a large section of the Whareratas part which needs extra maintenance due to being on unstable land, and the general condition of Bridge 290 which has been allowed to deteriorate since it was damaged by Cyclone Bola in 1988. The underlying background to all of these things is insufficient revenue if there is not enough freight being hauled to cover costs.

The question of forestry slash flowing down off the hillsides and blocking culverts also needs to be addressed with the forestry industry and there should also be a review of whether forestry over the Wharerata Hills should be commercially exploited, given the poor condition of some of this land the forests should be put into the conservation estate.

GCVR has had to undertake maintenance of the section they are allowed to run on over the last few years. The reality is that this situation is the same as for any heritage railway in the country, few of whom can expect to have their maintenance costs paid for free of charge.

The coalition government has suggested rail tourism is a means of helping to increase the viability of the rail network. It remains to be seen if this is the case. Certainly the services being operated would probably have to be put onto a much more commercial footing with more frequent operation to capture a volume of tourist traffic. The market for long distance trains travelling the entire length of the railway is probably going to be limited, compared to a daily train operation over a shorter distance.

Labour's 2017 campaign transport policies [6]: Ports and Coastal Shipping

Comment

Coastal Freight Strategy

The Sea Change strategy was first introduced in the final year of the previous Labour government. It recognises that coastal shipping can play a much greater role in bulk freight transport around New Zealand than is currently the case. given the proximity of most major population centres to the coastline and the long thin shape of the country. A key aspect of this policy is that coastal shipping is likely to be competitive against rail transport for significant bulk freight between two ports and therefore the development of such services is a worthwhile alternative to expending significant funds on new rail development projects.

Let's look at an example: regional freight transport needs in the Eastland region. Historically a part of these needs for about 70 years was met by the now-closed Napier to Gisborne rail line. While significant the rail line has never carried large volumes of freight, partly because Gisborne is served by highway routes going north as well as south, and because of the major port at Tauranga not being equipped with a direct rail connection to Gisborne. A historical proposal to develop a rail line between Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty has never been realised and is unlikely to be in future. Hence when Labour has said the case for the line needs to be sustainable they are in some measure reflecting on the difficult economics of the Napier-Gisborne line and the viable alternatives.

The Napier-Gisborne rail line is difficult to justify the continued operation of because of high maintenance costs and a low level of population between the two extremities. It is possible that logging traffic out of Wairoa for shipping from Napier might be worthwhile by rail as this part of the route has been much easier to maintain over the historical life of the railway and is in much better shape than points further north where nearly all the maintenance cash has historically gone.

In the Gisborne region there are many forests that are nowhere near a rail line and will not benefit from any developments on the NGL, unless it is considered necessary to ship logs south to Napier for export or processing. At present several processing facilities exist or are being built in Gisborne for the export wood trade. Logging is a bulk freight that is quite cost sensitive and it is not a given that all the logs should be transported to Napier for shipping when coastal freight services can be and in fact are currently operated in conjunction with Port of Tauranga. Logging ships often call into Gisborne to load from empty before heading north to Tauranga to finish loading and head to their overseas destination because Gisborne has limited shipping draught. Logging traffic through Port of Gisborne has developed in a major way over the past 30 years and volume continues to increase.

Likewise some of the other types of traffic that have been touted for the re-opening of the NGL are currently being handled by ship, these include the squash traffic to Japan and kiwifruit from the Gisborne region. The latter in particular has followed the international trend of eschewing containerised transport in favour of specialised reefer ships owing to the increased efficiency and resulting eco-friendly advantages. This means the alternative of railing containers of kiwifruit to Gisborne is not as guaranteed as some claim. At present reefers come into Gisborne to take a full load of kiwifruit for overseas markets. These are other examples of how coastal shipping can be more viable than rail.

Port of Tauranga is well placed to serve the Gisborne region from coastal shipping services. It has in recent years operated a coastal container service from Timaru making that port able to compete for international freight against Christchurch and Dunedin. As the same ships currently sail past Gisborne on their route between Tauranga and Timaru it would be easy to implement port calls at Gisborne to shift containers of freight to/from Tauranga, or alternatively have a separate weekly service in operation. There are currently no container services operating at the Port of Gisborne.

Ports Strategy

A national ports strategy is a long overdue concept. It is unlikely however that a Labour government will be willing to rationalise the major ports as there is likely to be significant political cost in so doing.

This policy addresses some of the following considerations:

• Calls for Northport to be developed as an alternative to Auckland and to take over all the freight transport from Auckland.
• The need for the larger regional ports to invest in development to handle larger ships and other significant financial expenditures.

Currently in the North Island the major freight ports are at Northport, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington and Taranaki. Taranaki is the only one of these which does not have any container services at present. In addition, Port of Gisborne is a significant regional port in Eastland. 

Due to agitation at local level in Auckland against the increased development of the port in the Waitemata Harbour the Auckland Council has been forced to consider alternative sites for a new port and this has also led to the situation where Northland interests have suggested the port at Marsden Point could replace the existing Port of Auckland operation. However Auckland Council is not likely to agree to such a strategy and is looking at sites within the Auckland region as being more suitable. Relocating the port of Auckland operations to Northport would impose additional haulage and environmental costs due to the greater expense of moving freight in that volume by rail and would also require massive investment in the rail link between the two centres totalling billions of dollars. This has to be contrasted with the alternatives of coastal freight transport which of course is how most freight already reaches Auckland. 

For the rest of the North Island it is a question of how best to serve areas and which port they should be served from. The key question here is the service of the area from Tauranga to Wellington. At present Port of Tauranga competes with Napier and Napier competes with Wellington. The west coast up to Taranaki is a different scenario altogether, and is impacted by the relative lack of shipping services up that side of the country. Because most of the ports in New Zealand are on or close to the east coast, shipping services can prioritise the east coast for movements between ports and therefore east coast ports have an advantage. This would be also a major consideration should Manukau or another west coast site be chosen as an alternative for the Port of Auckland in the future.

The competition between Tauranga and Napier is evident in the proposals by Napier to reopen the Napier-Gisborne railway line to move freight to and from Gisborne. Gisborne has long been served by road and rail transport alternatives from the north and its position roughly between the two regional centres as well as its own significant port operation (not seen anywhere else in NZ at present for this size of population) makes coastal shipping via Tauranga a viable alternative to Napier based shipping services. Napier also lacks significant freight infrastructure such as full container cranes that means their throughput of handling containers is slower than ports like Wellington that have the historical high volumes of container volume and resultant infrastructure.

Given the existence of viable rail services between most regions the following rationalisation of ports in the North Island is realistic:

• International container ports for the North Island be at Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington as these centres already have the infrastructure developed or in place to handle large shipping volumes. Auckland is subject to the development of an alternative West Coast site.
• Feeder services by coastal shipping or rail from secondary ports or centres such as Napier, Gisborne, Northland, Taranaki, Palmerston North and Hamilton.

South Island:

• The West Coast of the South Island has never had a viable international deep water port development. It seems unlikely the government will agree to fund one in future. Rail is a very expensive alternative given the long distances involved that limits the economic potential of the West Coast. However successive governments seem to accept that the West Coast is not going to be a future economic centre of major importance that justifies a port development.
• Rail development between Nelson and the West Coast makes more sense than New Zealand First's proposed Picton-Blenheim route. This would give access to Port of Nelson for freight volume from the West Coast. However there is no distance advantage for the West Coast compared to Lyttelton. This means that a rail link for Nelson is very unlikely to ever be developed.
• There are three major East Coast ports all competing for freight. It is questionable that all of these facilities are needed and Lyttelton should be prioritised over the Timaru and Dunedin ports given the need for facilities for new large container vessels. 
• Port of Nelson is in a different position as they have no rail link to any other port. Coastal services from this port to other ports such as Picton and Wellington is quite viable to serve either Nelson or Marlborough regional freight needs.

---

Ports and Coastal Shipping

Labour will:

• As part of a national freight strategy, develop a national ports strategy with a particular focus on the upper north island.
• Refresh and move to implement the ‘Sea Change’ strategy to revitalise Coastal shipping.

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.

---

Rapid Rail in the Golden Triangle

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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.

More damage to challenged Napier-Gisborne Line

In the middle of this picture you can see a new washout about 30 metres long between Tunnels 16 and 17 on the Napier-Gisborne line in the Whareratas. This aerial image on Google Earth is dated 3/3/2016. Looking at other photos damage has occurred in other areas as well. 

Given how fragile this section is, it is highly likely the recent heavy rainfall events of a couple of cyclones have caused more damage. There is a whole lot of this area that has not got footage later than 2011 so we can't actually see anything from the past five or six years on GE. However there is more recent coverage for the HBRC side of the boundary from 2014-15 and this shows that the above washout has probably occurred between 2015-16.

Road, rail, cycle link with Hawke's Bay on agenda

http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2703955-135/road-rail-cycle-link-with-hawkes

It's obvious why Gisborne doesn't want a railway line considering the competition from the Port of Napier against Gisborne's own port, which operates some services in conjunction with Port of Tauranga.

It looks like some highway proposals intend to share the rail corridor rather than take it over entirely.

New 'railbike' tourism venture for mothballed Gisborne-Wairoa train line

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/91041334/new-railbike-tourism-venture-for-mothballed-gisbornewairoa-train-line

Common sense really although I wonder how they get around those washouts. they can probably only use part of the line.

Napier Gisborne Line: Aerial Photos [3]

A big slip at Tunnel 6 is an ongoing issue in the Esk Valley. The hillside is slipping all around this area and has been doing so for many years.

The Mohaka Viaduct. The road is impeded where it passes under the viaduct due to the placement of one of the pylons.

Mangaturanga Viaduct just north of Raupunga.

Kopuawhara Viaduct.

In 2015 here is a new slip developing at 346.5 km between Tunnel 15 and 16.

During the construction of the line in February 1938 a major storm caused a flood at Kopuawhara Construction Camp which was washed away with the loss of 22 lives. The monument to this event still stands almost directly opposite the 347 km peg.

Washout at Tunnel 22 about the time the line closed.

Big Hut washout with extensive slipping in the hills around the areas. 2012 approx.

The hump in the track is the bypass of Tunnel 24 put through mid 1950s when the hillside was sliding so much that the tunnel collapsed under the pressure. In fact the hillside is still on the move here towards the sea as can be seen to the right.

Another trouble spot around 356.8 km where some material has slipped down onto the tracks in recent years.

South end of Beach loop where the washout occurred in 2012, with again evidence of more problems.

There's been a lot of trouble here at Wharekakaho Stream over the last four years.

Napier Gisborne Line: Some Aerial Photos [2]

Recent photo of the Waikokopu foreshore with protection works for the railway line.

The triangle at Wairoa. The Swifts meat works siding went off the end of it and was removed some years ago.

Ravensdown Fertiliser depot at Wairoa. It's not clear if this was replenished by rail in recent years of operating the line.

Wairoa River Bridge.

Nuhaka River Bridge. The wooden piers that were susceptible to teredo attack were replaced with concrete after the bridge collapse in 2005.

Centre (1950s extension) part of the Waipaoa River bridge. Due to severe flood scouring of the original and 1950s extension parts of the bridge in the 1988 Bola floods, the bridge has only been patched up due to the high cost of repairs not being economic. Trains are limited to 30 km/h and one locomotive at a time, and must stop running whenever certain levels of river flow or wind speed are reached.

Napier Gisborne Line: Some Aerial Photos [1]

As the debate continues to rage over the future of the Gisborne line, here are some aerial photos from the best quality that Land Information NZ or National Library has to offer.

Whites Aviation shot of Waikokopu. The station was at the far end of the big curve and the port must have still been somewhat usable at the time (1951) although once the railway was completed it became nearly superfluous. Note to the right the concrete blocks needed along the foreshore to protect the railway embankment.

Whites Aviation view of Opoutama in 1951, station  platform and shelter shed. Scoble (see reference list) seems to suggest the name was also used at Kopuawhara a little further up the line. This station seems to have been mainly for passenger use without a siding but small lots of goods may have been handled on an unattended basis until the 1980s. The closing date for passengers shown as 2002 must have been for specials.

Ravensdown Gisborne depot, one of a small number of sidings still operational in the area when the line closed.

Prime sawmill, another siding but the mill was closed some years earlier. A wood processing plant was to have been established on the cleared site to the left but work was stopped around 2008.

A washout at 348.9 km which must have happened since the line closed. If the description I received is correct then this location had old railway wagons as a retaining wall under the embankment which have collapsed into the river.

A new washout developing at Wharerata Walkway Station in this 2015 photo.

The area known as Blacks Beach around the Mahia Peninsula showing the erosion that is threatening the road and will affect the railway. The area above the track at this point is where the big slip came down in 1957 that closed the line for 2 months.

Gisborne line fragile and damage prone

Well with a little help from some friends I was fortunate enough to obtain a copy of Chris Woods' out of print history of the railways in Eastland, "Steaming To The Sunrise", published 20 years ago. Now this book contains a lot of detail about the history of the construction and operation of the Gisborne Line. Here is a summary of key maintenance timelines as gleaned from it along with my other sources.

• 1938, February: Major flooding on the incomplete line washes out culverts and embankments. Eskdale bridge completely collapses. Construction camp at Kopuawhara washed away with death of 22 workers.
• 1938, May: Repairs to previous flood damage undone by further major flooding.
• 1955, July: 100 metres of track pushed out of alignment by major slip at Waikokopu, causing closure for 10 days.
• 1955, end: Line diverted at Tunnel 24 due to continual movement of hillside towards sea causing tunnel lining to crack. Tunnel eventually collapsed the following year.
• 1956, December: Major slips at both ends of Mohaka tunnel. Repeat instances in subsequent years lead to portal extensions in early 1960s.
• 1957, August: Huge landslide at Waikokopu closes 300 metres of track. Estimated 1 million tonnes of material slid downhill after prolonged rainfall. Reconstruction work takes three months in all, with line completely closed for the first four weeks.
• 1977, June: Major rainfall and flooding causes severe damage to 27 km of track between Paritu and Muriwai. Repairs require the shifting of some 300,000 cubic metres of soil throughout the Whareratas. The line is reopened to limited freight traffic almost two months later, but repairs to a standard suitable for passenger traffic are not completed until early 1978.
• 1983: Storm damage closes line for two months.
• 1988: Cyclone Bola cuts railway in 69 places with slips and washouts. Napier-Wairoa section reopens after two months of repairs. 100 metres of embankment at the south end of the Waipaoa River Bridge is washed out requiring the bridge to be extended 145 metres in total. Although the line is finally reopened after 8 months of closure the passenger services are not reinstated. Several piers under the south end of the Waipaoa bridge are badly scoured by the flooding but to save on repair costs, only the former southern abutment is underpinned with new piles. The result is a bridge with a new permanent speed restriction of 30 km/h, an axle load restriction of 14 tonnes, a weight restriction banning more than one locomotive on the bridge at a time, and regulations requiring it to be completely closed whenever the wind speed or water level exceeds certain limits.
• 2005, May: Nuhaka Bridge collapses while under repair due to teredo infestation of wooden piles. Installation of new concrete piers allows reopening of line after some two months. 
• 2012, May: Major weather event causes three significant washouts in the Whareratas and the embankment is undercut by ponding at Wharekakaho Stream north of Beach Loop. Kiwirail estimates repairs at a cost of around $4 million. Decides to mothball Wairoa-Gisborne section of line. Napier-Wairoa remains open but is mothballed at the end of the year due to insufficient freight traffic.
• 2015, June: Gisborne City Vintage Railway is given operating rights over Muriwai-Gisborne section subject to completing track repairs. Replacement of sleepers and rebuilding of several small bridges is eventually completed later in the year at a cost of more than $200,000 which has to be raised from grants and other external funding sources as the railway society has no money.
• 2016, May: Gisborne District Council estimates a cost of around $45,000 to repair potholes at a level crossing on the section of line operated by GCVR. The railway society is unable to fund the work leaving the council to pay.
• 2016, June: Further problems at Wharekakaho Stream near Beach Loop require a long reach excavator to be brought in to unblock the culvert under the railway line.

The above are the most major of the events that have happened on the line. We know that there have been additional other times when the line has been closed for periods due to slips happening and we also know that there has been a lot of damage to the railway formation alongside the Kopuawhara Stream where a lot of weatherproofing would be essential to address this damage in years to come. In addition there is another major issue along the line at Blacks Beach near Mahia, where erosion has cut into the ground below the highway which the railway is next to. Sooner or later this will result in the railway being undercut. The state of the Waipaoa Bridge is a major issue the next time there is a really big flood in the river, and the next flood control scheme for Gisborne appears to require the bridge to be raised higher which is likely to be an unaffordable expense for Kiwirail. The hillside at Beach Loop is constantly sliding towards the sea hence the work needed at Tunnel 24.

Questions raised over Gisborne District Council's forestry management in Whareratas

It is well known that the damaged culverts on the NGL were blocked by forestry slash washed off adjoining land and that this slash is repeatedly washed into waterways during flood events in the Gisborne region.

Merv Goodley of Mahia wrote a letter to the Gisborne Herald that is reproduced on the Napier-Gisborne-Railway.co.nz website (NGR Shortline Establishment Group). Like others he has asked sharp questions about the GDC failure to properly monitor and enforce proper land management policies on the likes of Juken Nissho.

In 2014 Kiwirail stated they would take action against a landowner following a washout of track on the Napier line caused by forestry slash washed down into a culvert under the track.

• http://www.napier-gisborne-railway.co.nz/slash-deluge-no-act-of-god/

Thirty years ago I moved to Mahia on the corner of Mahanga and Kaiwaitau roads opposite the Kopuawhara Bridge.

Our property is a 16 acre lifestyle block which we have endlessly worked on. We have great neighbours and love the lifestyle.

To watch our neighbours suffer from unbelieveable quantities of pine slash that again came down from Juken NZ Ltd’s Wharerata forestry, and read a comment from Sheldon Drummond that this was “an act of God”, beggars belief.

The huge clean-up bill from the 2002 “act of God” event fell mainly on Wairoa District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council ratepayers, and impacted on the wetlands for years.

The Wairoa council has cleared the Kopuawhara Bridge of slash three times at ratepayer expense.  This time it will require a claw-type digger plus trucks to cart the slash away.  Why should this be at the expense of Wairoa?

Close inspection of this occurrence revealed 95 per cent is pine slash including hundreds of logs three to five metres long, some over 10m and clearly off skid sites with clean saw cuts both ends.

The log jam is 450m in length, 30m wide and 2m deep, Juken NZ has a digger on-site to clean up alongside two other machines, no doubt funded by the regional council.

How much did the regional council spend on the 2002 clean-up?  I believe the Juken NZ contribution was one digger and a few bundles of posts, while the rest was on us ratepayers.

My neighbour is Pah Nui dairy farm, milking 1500 cows.  Regional councils impose rules on dairy farms involving ongoing monitoring and compliance.  Pah Nui spent over $1.5 million in an effluent pond and strict monitoring conditions – fair enough.

Where is the control and monitoring of forestry?

Sheldon, through this column will you tell us the Juken NZ contribution towards the removal of this slash, and the intention for the balance above the bridge waiting to come down in the next flood?

I invite you, your executives, Meng Foon, Wairoa Mayor Craig Little, chief executive Fergus Power and regional council chairman Fenton Wilson to visit the site, meet at our place and see if we can find a solution to an ongoing nightmare and ecological disaster.

My neighbours are third generation farmers.  In time they may be forced from their home for events beyond their control, but well within control of others.

We accept flooding has to be managed in this location.  However, forestry slash is something new and only started to occur since the 1990’s.

What rules are placed on Juken NZ to ensure planting and logging practices do not result in slash spewing into streams and rivers after high rainfall?   What monitoring and compliance is carried out during and after logging forestry to ensure rules are working and being complied with?

To say that slash spewing into our rivers, clogging up waterways and inundating sensitive lagoons and estuaries is “an act of God” is gibberish.

Further damage alleged to Whareratas section of Gisborne Line

An interesting letter was recently published in the Gisborne Herald by one Merv Goodley of Mahia concerning the likelihood of further damage to the rail line between Wairoa and Gisborne. . 

• http://gisborneherald.co.nz/opinion/2278316-135/ditch-hbrcs-costly-rail-dream

Here are some aerial photos showing some of the damaged areas of the line.

At upper left is the Wharekakaho Stream, a location where a blocked culvert was identified after the March 2012 weather bomb event where floodwaters had partly undercut the embankment, track however was left intact. Further south we can see evidence of significant water flows and erosion of the track sides.

This is the north end of Beach Loop and we can see a lot of erosion around the track both above and below.

This area just south of Beach Loop has been on the move for years but is looking pretty serious at this time.

Just to the north of the demolished Tunnel 24. The tunnel was removed in the mid 1950s because of a landslide in the hill it was driven through.

This photo joins the one above showing significant erosion all along this section of the line.

Undercutting of the embankment at Wharerata Walkway station.

Significant embankment erosion at 349 km. My guess is this is the location referred to where railway wagons were used to reinforce the track which have now collapsed into the river.

Hillside above the track collapsed about 5-6 years ago at this location between Tunnel 16 and Bridge 265. The line was operating at the time and the slip took about a month to clear.

Even in 2011 it was clear there was a slip developing at the north end of the Kopuawhara Viaduct. It has continued to grow since then.

Undercutting of embankment into the river just south of 347 km.

Blacks Beach, the site of the 1957 slip referred to in the letter. The road is being undercut by the sea due to erosion which also threatens the railway alongside.

The significant parts of the letter include the following quotes

I was lucky enough to go into the Kopuawhara headwaters in a four-wheel-drive vehicle from JNL’s Wharerata headquarters, and saw a lot more blowouts that have occurred since the intial damage in March 2012. At one spot, 10 or so years ago, the then rail operator packed one blowout with railway carriages to hold the line in place. Those carriages are now laying some 40 metres below the track in the river bed. I would say to fix the rail line in the Wharerata area alone, for the long term, would cost $60 million to $80m. One area would need a viaduct system to solve the unstable land, two years to complete just fixing the damage. Look at Black’s Beach slip August 12, 1957, 19 bulldozers to clear 87m track one month day and night. Any part of Black’s Beach could slip under the line into the sea as it is so unstable there. The situation is the same at Beach Loop, Paratu, Kopuawhara Valley, Waikokopu. Is it true that the Mohaka Viaduct needs over $2m spent on it for painting alone? Then there are all the other bridges and crossings etc.

Kiwirail review of the Gisborne Line 2010-2012 [4]: Walbran Report on Coastal Shipping

The Walbran Report looked at coastal shipping options for Napier to Gisborne should the rail line cease to operate. Some detailed points:

• ATR funding in 2003/4 was $168,000 from NZTA plus $52,000 each from GDC and HBRC. This was a one off subsidy for operation of the line.
• Eastland Port, Port of Napier and Winstone Pulp International (former owner of the Prime mill at Matawhero) commissioned the report to investigate the possibility of coastal shipping  in the region.
• Depending on volumes carried the cost per container of coastal shipping volume is extremely competitive with rail. Road-only charges are cheaper for 20 foot containers, but more expensive for 40 foot containers. Coastal shipping economies will not be experienced if the volumes are too low.
• Shipping transport has increased social benefits over rail transport alone, including overall reduction in emissions (lower CO2 but higher particulates). The risk of level crossing accidents being eliminated is also a part of that increase.
• The report refers to the transport by means other than road of woodchips by Winstone Pulp International from Prime Mill to Tangiwai and Kawerau. It states WPI have found that none of the alternatives were financially viable. This must be the woodchip traffic that has been referred to in previous posts. If it was not viable how is it being included in projections for traffic numbers through Gisborne.

• https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/gisborne-to-napier-coastal-shipping-study/docs/gisborne-napier-coastal-shipping-link.pdf

Woodchip traffic from Gisborne to Kawerau: 978 km by rail, 228 km by road.

It has been quite interesting as of today to find a breakdown of the potential volume of freight that allegedly can go onto rail from Gisborne and make the line viable.

It has been claimed in a report to GDC (referred to in my last post) that 250,000 tonnes of freight could be carried from Gisborne to Napier on the line and in fact could have been carried in its last year of operation. Since Kiwirail only carried 44,000 tonnes, the disparity in numbers is hard to understand. Similar numbers to 250,000 tonnes have been cited in BERL's review of the closure decision case to give a more optimistic forecast for the future of the line.

After analysing the report to GDC, a very significant portion of this total is made up of woodchip traffic, estimated at 150,000 tonnes. The report does not state the destination of this traffic, but Kiwirail states that it was Kawerau. One does not have to be a geographic expert to realise that Kawerau is about as far by rail from Gisborne as it is possible to get in New Zealand, while also being about as close by road as Napier.

Kiwirail has cited that the wagons having a 5 day turnaround time was a significant problem for the traffic. Put simply there would have to be multiple fleets of wagons to move 12,500 tonnes per month which is about 600 tonnes a day assuming 5 trains per week on a weekday service. This is about one trainload a day and obviously is a significant volume, but about 5 sets of wagons would be needed. This could well be the reason Kiwirail does not appear to have carried any of the woodchip product in its last year of running the line and why they have not included these in any of their assessments. There seems to be an unwritten assumption this would be a viable traffic for the line.

The distance by rail from Gisborne to Kawerau is as follows, based on known line distances:

• Gisborne-Palmerston North via PNGL: 390 km
• Palmerston North-Hamilton via NIMT: 406 km
• Hamilton-Kawerau via ECMT: 182 km

The total for this route is therefore 978 km.

Road distance: Whilst I do not have any tables I can look up for these distances, copying LINZ highway data to Google  Earth to use their measurement tools produced the following:

• Gisborne-Kawerau via SH2 to Matawai, Opotiki and Awakeri; SH2 from Awakeri to Te Teko; and SH34 from Te Teko to Kawerau: 228 km.

This is slightly more than four times the distance by rail which would seem likely to wipe out any advantages in carriage by rail.

WORK ON THE NEW RAILWAY LINE FROM WAIROA TO WAIKOKUPU, HAWKE'S BAY: THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE SEEN IN THE DISTRICT.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19220824-41-3

Kopuawhara Viaduct 1941: VIADUCT CONSTRUCTION ON THE EAST COAST RAILWAY LINE, NORTH ISLAND: PLACING THE SUPERSTRUCTURE FOR THE CENTRAL CONCRETE ARCH

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19410326-32-2

MOHAKA RAIL VIADUCT SERVES AS HIGHWAY BRIDGE [1938]

Serious flooding washed out the road bridge at this locality so the newly completed railway bridge was pressed into service for vehicles.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19380622-55-2

WHERE THE RAILWAY WILL CROSS THE ESK RIVER:THE BRIDGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. [1924]

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19240904-44-5
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-19240904-44-5%22

NEW HAWKE'S BAY RAILWAY SERVICE INAUGURATED: OFFICIAL OPENING OF WAIROA-NAPIER LINE ON SATURDAY

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19390705-39-1
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-19390705-39-1%22

COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE RAILWAY WORKING AND THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AT WIAIPUNGA.SEVENTEEN MILES NORTH OF NAPIER.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19240904-45-1
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-19240904-45-1%22