The South Island's main rail line has been decimated by huge slips following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake near Kaikoura.
Already there is pressure from groups like the Tax Payers Union to not replace the rail line.
Rail is essential for a sustainable and safe transport system. Moving freight by rail means fewer trucks on the road, fewer crashes, less pollution and ultimately less congestion in our cities and ports.
Add your name and call on the Minister of Transport to commit to funding the rebuild of the South Island rail line.
The Government is coming under pressure to not rebuild the damaged South Island rail line. Call on the Minister to commit to funding the rail rebuild.
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I would like to echo the words of Emerson Yeoman:
“I can appreciate the scale of the challenge you face reopening transport links through the upper-eastern South Island. I also understand the huge expense involved and that you need to explore all the options before making any decisions, and not reopening a particular section of road or railway must always be assessed as a potential option. However while making those assessments I would urge you to take a very long term view. I’d encourage you to avoid the temptation to take a ‘3 year electoral cycle view’, or even a 20-30 year view, which in terms of transport assets is not very long at all, but rather to look at least 50 – 100 years into the future. I know you will be getting pressure from the road transport lobby to abandon the rail line, which I trust you will see for the self-interested monopolisation attempt that it is. Likewise I know you’ll be getting pressure from the self-proclaimed ‘taxpayers union’ that public expenditure on the rail line is inappropriate and unjustifiable – and I’m sure you’ll be well aware of the idealogy and short-term thinking that underpins their views. Well, I am a taxpayer and categorically they do not speak for me at all. I’m sure you’re aware that diesel-powered road transport cannot alone provide all the answers, and certainly not the resilience, NZ needs to secure our transport future. It is clear rail will play a bigger role in a future of declining oil availability (or increased oil cost) and carbon reduction obligations. What sort of rail that is and how it operates may look very different to what it does today but it is highly likely that it will need a secure, resilient and exclusive corridor, and that the costs of achieving such a corridor will be significantly greater in the future if we do not secure it and build it for long-term resilience now. As a taxpayer in NZ now, I would be very supportive of my tax dollars being used to reopen, improve and secure this rail connection for the long-term, as I recognise that once it’s gone, it’s gone and the logistics and costs of recovering it in the future will likely be prohibitive. I trust you’ll gather the best information available and make the right decision for NZ.”
Please use your position of power to make a positive change for NZ!
Regards, Kieu Pham