8. Rail Transport - Tranz Rail Limited
8.1 Tranz Rail - EMS Report
Originally, detailed consultation was to be undertaken with Tranz Rail Limited. However, following receipt of the recent Environmental Management Services (EMS) report for Transit New Zealand, Napier, "Road/Rail Study, Napier - Gisborne State Highway and Rail Line", it was apparent that this data had already been obtained.
Tranz Rail has three scheduled return rail-freight trips per week between Napier and Gisborne, which run north on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Annual cartage has been of the order of 43,000 tonnes/annum with approximately 27,000 tonnes/annum being fertiliser, while the remainder is a mixture of general freight.
From GHD's consultation with the forestry industry, it was apparent that logs were not being transported by rail within the Gisborne District.
If the rail service was to be discontinued, the above freight tonnage equals a range of 5-8 laden log trucks per day, 312 days per year depending on whether 28.5 tonne truck and trailer units or 16 tonne trucks are utilised.
Tranz Rail provided the following additional comments to EMS, which have been reproduced below.
"Tranz Rail acknowledges that the economics of log haulage by rail wagon between Wairoa and either Napier or Gisborne currently make rail an unattractive option for most of the forest industry in the region. In normal circumstances rail would only begin to compete if the distances involved were more or less equivalent to that of the entire stretch between Gisborne and Napier.
We also understand from Tranz Rail that there is currently a national shortage of log carriages - particularly as the entire 4-wheel log wagons in the country are in the process of being retired. These wagons carry a maximum load of about 15 tonnes with a maximum speed of only 40-50 km/hr. They are therefore a cause of inefficiency across the whole of the rail fleet where they are run with 100 km/hr rated wagons.
Once these older wagons are disposed of Tranz Rail plan to ensure that the remainder of the log wagon fleet is used intensively. At a capital cost of about $100,000 per wagon the incentive is to make sure that these higher rated wagons are not left to stand idle for any period of time. This means that for a log carriage service to operate between Napier, Wairoa and Gisborne a more or less continual usage would be expected for Tranz Rail to consider the service worth while.
Logging trains in the central North Island are capable of carrying around 1,200 tonnes of logs per run. In its present condition the Gisborne line would be able to carry about half that amount (600 tonnes per trip). This is the equivalent of about 21 conventional logging trucks per trip."
Tranz Rail Limited was represented at the subsequent industry workshop held in Gisborne in January 2001.
8.2 Rail Transport Workshop
At the Rail Transport Workshop No. 7 held in Gisborne on 24 January 2001, Tranz Rail's representative advised the workshop attendees that Tranz Rail's earlier decision in 2000 to close the Napier to Wairoa to Gisborne branch line had been put "on hold" pending the completion of a Tranz Rail study into the future economics of the branch line operations. This study is due to be completed in May 2001.
Tranz Rail also clarified certain aspects of the freight capacity of the Napier to Gisborne branch railway line for the benefit of the workshop attendees:
- The capacity of the existing Napier to Gisborne branch rail line, given a minimum of additional expenditure on upgrading works and deferred maintenance works, is in excess of the likely woodflow originating from within its catchment;
- The minimum economic rail freight loading on the Napier to Gisborne branch line is about 100,000 tonnes per year. (Equivalent to about 13 fully laden log trucks per day on SH 2, which is considered to be a small proportion of the growth in heavy traffic levels predicted for SH 2 over the next 20 years);
- The current rail freight loading for the branch line is of the order of 40,000 tonnes for the 2000 year (five laden log trucks per day), and falling; and
- The branch line may be able to provide an economic service to handle the growth in the rural produce industry, the wood processing industry, and the future development of the export container trade - currently being exported via the Port of Napier.
A consensus of the comments made by workshop attendees has been summarised below:-
- Given the necessary commercial will by Tranz Rail and the appropriate level of commitment and marketing effort by its staff, a number of potential customers from within the Region, as represented at the recent strategy workshops, estimated that of the order of 200,000 tonnes of freight per year (excluding logs and wood products) would be available for cartage by rail within five years, dependent on the freight rates and the level of service provided by Tranz Rail. Any contracts to transport logs or wood products would increase the tonnage of freight on the branch line accordingly;
- Several members of the forest industry were ambivalent in their support for rail transport as, given the current status of rail in the Region, it does not run through the majority of forests nor provide an economic service for log transport;
- Workshop attendees were emphatic that rail should not be subsidised at the expense of roading improvements within the Tairawhiti Region;
- Wairoa District Council considered that the retention of an effective and economic rail service was essential to a number of strategic and developmental initiatives currently being undertaken within the District;
- A number of key business and industry stakeholders within the Tairawhiti Region considered the Napier to Gisborne rail line to be both a strategic asset and a key transportation link of considerable regional importance to both the Wairoa District and the Gisborne District, and would argue for and support its retention; and
- However, the workshop attendees were not confident of being able to persuade Tranz Rail to keep the branch line operational for the next five years, at which stage the forest industry-related traffic was forecast to increase significantly. (Refer also to the recommendations on the branch rail line - Section 10.2.9)
8.3 Recommendations
It is recommended that the Project Sponsors review Tranz Rail's report as soon as practicable after its release for any impact it may have on the Integrated Transportation Strategy for the Tairawhiti Region.
It is further recommended that the Project Sponsors monitor the outcome of the report and the resultant decisions that may be made by Tranz Rail Limited in relation to the future of the Napier to Gisborne branch railway line.
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