Category: Rail General
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Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [3]
As noted in our last post the government has effectively given over the incentivisation of mode shift to rail to regional / unitary councils to implement in concert with NZTA. This relies on the assumption that rail freight between industries and ports is a major traffic source and that therefore the regional councils as port…
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Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [2]
Last post we took a quick introductory look at issues pertaining especially to the Main North Line which was completely closed to all rail freight for around two years as a result of major earthquake damage, and consequently lost all freight haulage to road. Kiwirail was, and is, majorly hampered in the situation by not…
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Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [1]
Unless you live in a cave, you’ll be aware of the many historical challenges Kiwirail and its predecessors have faced in operating a 4000 km network around a country as long and thin as NZ. As a country we have a low population density with our four largest cities each separated by hundreds of kilometres…
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Unpalatable Truth: Shipping More Efficient Than Rail
On July 30, 2020, The Australian newspaper published an article lamenting the rundown of the rail freight network over there, due to intense competition from road and sea haulage. Whilst road transport of freight is not cost competitive in large quantities and long distances, it works well when only a small volume is to be…
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NZ Rail: Kiwirail Defends Failures Rates of DL Locomotives
There’s been a report today in Radio NZ News regarding the reliability of the DL Class locomotives, with the suggestion that many of the class members are not achieving the expected rate of reliability and that therefore Kiwirail should be choosing some other type of locomotive to purchase. Kiwirail has been aiming for a MDBF…