There has been much recent agonising over the future of the Rail Link between Gisborne and Napier
Certainly one or two trains a week pulling just a couple of wagons, or a load of super phosphate fertiliser hardly seems sufficient to warrant the cost of keeping the railway going and some think it is time to close the line down.
Others want the line kept open because of an expected long term increase in wood products.
So are those who want to keep the railway line operating futuristic, or futile?
When the line was first envisioned in the 1920's circumstances were very different to the present. Gisborne was even more isolated than it now is with an over night ferry service to Napier while road transport was in its infancy.
Hawke's Bay had been connected to Wellington in the 1880's and the main trunk line from Auckland to Wellington opened in 1908. The Gisborne line was one of the last major rail links to be built in New Zealand and was severely restrained by Depression era finances. It did not reach Gisborne until 1942 during WW2.
War time needs and fuel rationing meant the line provided an essential link back then but now rail must now compete on price and convenience with trucks.
There was a time when many large manufacturers had their own railway siding for convenient access to the rail system, but now for many using rail means multiple handling transferring freight to the rail head the loading it onto wagons.
Rail can work but but for bulk loads such as Solid Energy shipping huge quantities of export coal from the West Coast to Littleton.
Like wise Fontera would struggle to transport the huge volumes of milk from Oringi near Dannevirke to Harwara if it could not load it onto several trains a day. In Australia rail lines are used to ship bulk products such as iron ore and coal from the mines to the ports.
The line to Gisborne simply isn't in this league. Heinz Wattie's tried shifting bulk tomatoes in the the 1980's but they soon found having trainloads of ripening tomatoes all arriving at once did not suit the continuous needs of their production line processing.
Even shipping logs means multiple handling, but much is being made of the so called wall of wood expected out of Gisborne in the next few years, and containerised loads of processed wood products may be a different matter. .
Internationally passenger rail is making a huge comeback but this involves specially engineered systems capable of handling speeds of 200mph (320Km) and more. Such services offer travel times that are competitive with flying for distances up to 1000Km .
Passengers traffic also seem unlikely to return to rail, even though travelling by train seems a much more attractive proposition than bus or even car. It seems highly unlikely high speed rail will ever operate on New Zealand's narrow gauge single track system, and even less likely such trains will ever link Gisborne and Hawke's Bay.
Additionally Gisborne does not have the same inter dependence with Hawke's Bay that it once had. Rail is no longer practicable for all those passengers travelling north to places like Auckland.
One thing a rail system needs is reliability and the line to Gisborne has suffered some major problems over recent years. During Cyclone Bowler in 1987 a major wash out just south of Gisborne put the line out of commission for well over over a year, and a few years ago a Bridge collapsed at Nuhaka again making the line unusable for many months.
On the other hand rail can be an important alternative. For a time after the main road bridge at Wairoa collapsed during Cyclone Bowler the only way the two halves of the town could be connected was by using some old freight carriages pulled by a freezing works locomotive then based in the town. .
Undoubtedly energy prices will keep rising and shifting freight by rail is very fuel efficient. This might eventually make rail competitive again though there are many other costs considerations that need to be taken into account. Electrification is also possible but unlikely.
There have also been calls to convert the line to a cycleway as happened in Central Otago. This could boost tourism but requires that the tracks be ripped up.
While there are occasional railcar and steam train excursions, these are not regular users. Even in Central Otago the heart of tourism country, the steam train powered Kingston Flyer seems unable to attract sufficient patronage to be profitable..
It is likely to be many years or even decades before conditions are right for rail between Hawke's Bay and Gisborne to be viable.
Unless Government is willing to keep propping up the line then closure seems inevitable.
The only practical solution seems to be if services are put on hold, the system should be left in place, because provided the tracks are still there, the line could be recommissioned. If the tracks are ripped up that will be the final curtain for the rail system, for ever.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Road safety
The results of a new state highway evaluation method called Kiwirap or Road Assessment Programme saw all state highways in the country classified into one of five groups, from one star to five star.
The method judges roads according accident density or the number of fatal and serious accidents per kilometre of road.
There were no roads anywhere with one star rating, nor were there any roads judged five star though some sections under the minimum 5 K length met the five star requirements.
Four star highways or roads with only minor deficiencies, were all in either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. In Wellington about two thirds of the length of the highways was deemed to be four star, while only one quarter were two star.
In Hawke's Bay all roads were judged two star. That is all state highways had major deficiencies such as poor alignment and roadside conditions .
Hawke's Bay roads were judged some of the poorest, and we have two of the three most dangerous roads in the country. SH 2 from Napier to Hastings was number one , and SH2 from Napier to Bay View was number three.
This is highly unsatisfactory. I have already commented on how we seem to miss out on so much meaningful Government expenditure. Recently the New Zealand Transport Agency called for tenders to build one of New Zealand's most expensive-ever roading systems, the two billion dollar 4.5-kilometre long Waterview Connection in Auckland, linking the Southwestern motorway with the Northwestern motorway.
On a per capita basis if we were to get that sort of money we would be getting $200 million. Some important upgrades are now underway including the southern extension of the expressway, road straightening at Dillans hill on SH5 to Taupo, and the Matahura Gorge deviation on the road to Wairoa.
The out of town upgrades are good especially for trucks, but traffic volumes mean these roads are not deemed as dangerous as the two worst sections of SH2.
I was disappointed but not surprised there was no comment from our local government leaders. They seem more interested in gaining funding for pet projects rather than fixing life and death issues.
Bad driving does cause accidents and there has been some talk of lowering the speed limit to 80K, but the present limits are appropriate for major arterial roads.
The problem is lack of money to fix the problems. Making it easier to pass and having more slow lanes for turning traffic would help. At the Marine Parade end of SH2 there are large Norfolk pines, and near Hastings deep ditches on both sides of the road. The ditches could be piped removing one obvious danger while at the same time providing more space for slow vehicles and turning traffic.
Some accidents involve pedestrians and cyclists and even more effort is needed to provide a continuous walkway/cycleway between Napier and Hastings, starting where there are bridges.
There is now firm evidence there is a problem, so we must act. We need to make a better case for some serious spending. We need to prioritise safety and efficiency. Lets do so before we are dealing with another fatality.
The method judges roads according accident density or the number of fatal and serious accidents per kilometre of road.
There were no roads anywhere with one star rating, nor were there any roads judged five star though some sections under the minimum 5 K length met the five star requirements.
Four star highways or roads with only minor deficiencies, were all in either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. In Wellington about two thirds of the length of the highways was deemed to be four star, while only one quarter were two star.
In Hawke's Bay all roads were judged two star. That is all state highways had major deficiencies such as poor alignment and roadside conditions .
Hawke's Bay roads were judged some of the poorest, and we have two of the three most dangerous roads in the country. SH 2 from Napier to Hastings was number one , and SH2 from Napier to Bay View was number three.
This is highly unsatisfactory. I have already commented on how we seem to miss out on so much meaningful Government expenditure. Recently the New Zealand Transport Agency called for tenders to build one of New Zealand's most expensive-ever roading systems, the two billion dollar 4.5-kilometre long Waterview Connection in Auckland, linking the Southwestern motorway with the Northwestern motorway.
On a per capita basis if we were to get that sort of money we would be getting $200 million. Some important upgrades are now underway including the southern extension of the expressway, road straightening at Dillans hill on SH5 to Taupo, and the Matahura Gorge deviation on the road to Wairoa.
The out of town upgrades are good especially for trucks, but traffic volumes mean these roads are not deemed as dangerous as the two worst sections of SH2.
I was disappointed but not surprised there was no comment from our local government leaders. They seem more interested in gaining funding for pet projects rather than fixing life and death issues.
Bad driving does cause accidents and there has been some talk of lowering the speed limit to 80K, but the present limits are appropriate for major arterial roads.
The problem is lack of money to fix the problems. Making it easier to pass and having more slow lanes for turning traffic would help. At the Marine Parade end of SH2 there are large Norfolk pines, and near Hastings deep ditches on both sides of the road. The ditches could be piped removing one obvious danger while at the same time providing more space for slow vehicles and turning traffic.
Some accidents involve pedestrians and cyclists and even more effort is needed to provide a continuous walkway/cycleway between Napier and Hastings, starting where there are bridges.
There is now firm evidence there is a problem, so we must act. We need to make a better case for some serious spending. We need to prioritise safety and efficiency. Lets do so before we are dealing with another fatality.
Marineland
Two years after Marineland's last dolphin Kelly died and the attraction closed to the public there has been no decision about the future of the facility. Many marine animals and birds continue to live there, either because they are sick or because they would not be able to survive in the wild.
For nearly 4 decades Marineland was a unique New Zealand attraction allowing close up contact with a range of marine birds and animals, especially dolphins.
Unlike most other council owned businesses in both Hastings and Napier, Marineland was was not a huge drain on ratepayers pockets, and even with just a solitary dolphin could still pull in the audiences. Not just locals but people from throughout the country, and from overseas. Marineland helped pump millions of dollars into our economy
So with the closure of Marineland we have lost an important magnet, and almost certainly this is contributing to the general malaise in our visitor industry.
Moteliers in particular believe the drop off in families a group that seemed most likely to visit Marineland, is especially pronounced.
The visitor industry is especially important to Hawke's Bay contributing perhaps 10% to the economy overall. While we remain a major holiday destination with Wine and Food and Art Deco the mainstay attractions, supported by events such as the Mission Concert and Horse of the year these are all very seasonal. Marineland was a year round attraction making it especially valuable.
An independent report in 2006 calculated an overall contribution of $5 million to the Napier economy and also claimed Marineland was the top priority for many visitors.
So what are we going to do about it?
Other countries including Australia and the USA have dolphin attractions so replacing the dolphins is a possibility, but catching live dolphins at sea and keeping them in captivity is not an option. This would require an upgrade of the facilities and the cost could be prohibitive.
The reality is all four dolphins at Marineland lived well past their expected lifetime in the wild, so clearly they were well cared for once they assimilated to the conditions.
There has also been talk of turning it into a butterfly house or other similar attraction, but it is hard to imagine such a facility having anything like the benefit to the visitor industry.
Since the Napier City Council is already paying for the staff, keeping the facility open during school holidays, or for weekends is surely an option. The seals and other and other marine animals are still an attraction.
The Friends of Marineland Society suggest $2.5 million has been spent over recent years just evaluating upgrade proposals. If true it might have been better to have spent this money keeping it open.
It is time for openness by the Napier City Council with all the cards laid on the table so the people can better judge the options, rather than leaving the decision solely to an elite who seem committed to tucking the place away.
For the moment Marineland seems to have become nothing more than a bus stop and continuing complaints suggest it is not doing especially well in this new role.
For nearly 4 decades Marineland was a unique New Zealand attraction allowing close up contact with a range of marine birds and animals, especially dolphins.
Unlike most other council owned businesses in both Hastings and Napier, Marineland was was not a huge drain on ratepayers pockets, and even with just a solitary dolphin could still pull in the audiences. Not just locals but people from throughout the country, and from overseas. Marineland helped pump millions of dollars into our economy
So with the closure of Marineland we have lost an important magnet, and almost certainly this is contributing to the general malaise in our visitor industry.
Moteliers in particular believe the drop off in families a group that seemed most likely to visit Marineland, is especially pronounced.
The visitor industry is especially important to Hawke's Bay contributing perhaps 10% to the economy overall. While we remain a major holiday destination with Wine and Food and Art Deco the mainstay attractions, supported by events such as the Mission Concert and Horse of the year these are all very seasonal. Marineland was a year round attraction making it especially valuable.
An independent report in 2006 calculated an overall contribution of $5 million to the Napier economy and also claimed Marineland was the top priority for many visitors.
So what are we going to do about it?
Other countries including Australia and the USA have dolphin attractions so replacing the dolphins is a possibility, but catching live dolphins at sea and keeping them in captivity is not an option. This would require an upgrade of the facilities and the cost could be prohibitive.
The reality is all four dolphins at Marineland lived well past their expected lifetime in the wild, so clearly they were well cared for once they assimilated to the conditions.
There has also been talk of turning it into a butterfly house or other similar attraction, but it is hard to imagine such a facility having anything like the benefit to the visitor industry.
Since the Napier City Council is already paying for the staff, keeping the facility open during school holidays, or for weekends is surely an option. The seals and other and other marine animals are still an attraction.
The Friends of Marineland Society suggest $2.5 million has been spent over recent years just evaluating upgrade proposals. If true it might have been better to have spent this money keeping it open.
It is time for openness by the Napier City Council with all the cards laid on the table so the people can better judge the options, rather than leaving the decision solely to an elite who seem committed to tucking the place away.
For the moment Marineland seems to have become nothing more than a bus stop and continuing complaints suggest it is not doing especially well in this new role.
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