Long time rail supporter Cran Julian has made the following request, for all with an interest, to show their support to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for reinstatement of the Napier to Gisborne railway. Please make sure your voice is heard, as we must fight to save this railway line. It is very important that the council has public support in order to be able to proceed with its proposal.
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It would be appreciated if all those interested in saving the Napier Gisborne Railway through the establishment of a regional shortline venture with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council as well as other investors please make sure you write submission letters of support to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council before the deadline closure of 12 May for submissions to the Council’s Draft Annual Plan for 2014-15.
Given the Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee’s recently stated position in Parliament and media of (to date) not planning to put any Government funding into repairing the line to a “good fit for purpose” operation condition, the Council needs to hear from people who think that the region now needs to fund the repairs as well as have the Council lease the line from KiwiRail, and have a regionally based company with private sector investors and partners operate and maintain it.
As your help is needed to support the initiative of the Napier-Gisborne Railway Establishment Group and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council in their endeavours to re-open the line as a shortline freight operation for the benefit of Northern Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne/East Coast region and the country as a whole.
This railway line is particularly important to handle the increasing amount of container freight and other produce to/from Gisborne and the increasing wall of wood already starting to be harvested in the Wairoa-Gisborne areas. As well as this, it will also enable the return of excursion trains beyond Napier to a line which is very picturesque and offers unparalleled views ‘up their’ with best scenery in NZ. And as we all know – the greatest tourist attraction on East Coast is in fact the Napier-Gisborne rail link itself.
There are those that do not want to see this line re-opened, notably amongst them the bike trail lobby, who are exerting pressure on KiwiRail and the Government almost daily to take over the line for a bike trail.
It is time for all rail supporters to stand up and be counted or the permanent closure of this line is a VERY REAL possibility.
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| A 900 metre long freight train in the Esk valley on its way from Napier to Gisborne. This one train removed at least 50 trucks from state highway 2 and local roads, making the roads safer for the public and cheaper to maintain |
Napier Gisborne Railway – Proposal Details:
HBRC’s ongoing investment strategy is to improve
financial, economic and environmental benefits for the whole region by investing
in sound regional infrastructure assets.
One potential infrastructure investment is the
re-establishment of the Napier-Gisborne rail line as a viable alternative to the
transport of freight by road. HBRC, in conjunction with private sector partners,
is considering investing in the operation of a rail business carrying freight on
the line. A critical component of any such investment will be the agreement of
KiwiRail and the Government to reopen the rail line and for them to fully fund
its return and that of associated infrastructure in a good ‘fit for purpose’
condition.
A proposal from the Napier Gisborne Rail
Establishment Group (NGR) is summarised as follows.
- Establish and operate a rail freight service between Napier and Gisborne on the existing rail line once it has been returned to full operational status by the Government and KiwiRail.
- Lease locomotives and the line from KiwiRail, purchase appropriate rolling stock from KiwiRail, or elsewhere, to operate the service.
- Carry freight, which will largely be logs, fruit and vegetable produce.
- Anticipate financial losses in the first three years of operation, returning to profit in year 4 and generating significant returns to shareholders as log volumes increase – anticipated in year 6, and HBRC becomes a 51% shareholder in the venture, with businesses and investors in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne District holding the remaining 49% of shares in the operating company set up for this purpose.
The proposal claims benefits to Hawke’s Bay with
social, economic, and employment gains; improved transport infrastructure with
price competitiveness and efficiency over road and rail land transport modes;
safety and cost benefits through reduced heavy traffic on SH2 between Gisborne
and Napier; increased volumes of exports through Napier Port; and the security
of an alternative transport route to road in the event of a disaster.
The NGR Group estimates that investor funding to
finance capital and operating budgets will total $10.7million, consisting of:
- Purchase of rolling stock, plant, equipment etc $ 5.3m
- Working capital $ 2.4m
- Disaster Contingency Reserve $ 3.0m
Total Investor Funds Required $10.7m
A 51% shareholding investment from HBRC would be approximately $5.46m of the Total Investor Funds required over the 2014-15 to 2018-19 financial years. An initial investment of $3.9million would be required from HBRC for the 2014-15 year.
Any investment by HBRC in the NGR would be
conditional on:
- The Government and/or KiwiRail fully funding the return of the rail line and associated infrastructure to a "good fit for purpose" operating condition.
- Leases of the line and locomotives from KiwiRail on terms satisfactory to NGR.
- Suitable offtake agreements being concluded between NGR and customers for the freighting of logs and fruit and vegetable produce over the period up to and beyond 2020 to ensure the long term viability of the service.
- NGR’s business case being tested and accepted as satisfactory, and the return to HBRC over the long-term is to cover Council’s cost of funding.
HBRC investor funds would initially be sourced from
investment reserves, but ultimately would require refinancing from HBRC’s
borrowing programme.
We welcome your views on whether or not you
consider this to be a good investment for HBRC, and also if the investment does
not proceed during 2014-15 whether HBRC should advocate for the line to be kept
in a well maintained condition in its mothballed state so that it could be
readily re-opened in the future.
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| Another 900 metre freight train on the Napier to Gisborne railway |
Public Submissions:
Submissions to the council by email:
draftplan@hbrc.govt.nz
Submissions to the council by post:
Draft Annual Plan Submission, Freepost 515
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Private Bay 6006
Napier 4142.
People
from anywhere are welcome to make a submission
