Richard Worrall

KIWIRAIL enters 2018 with its prospects for long-term investment and financial viability far greater than they have been for the last decade or more. 

THE newly-elected Labour-New Zealand First coalition government has announced a $NZ 800m ($US 546.8m) funding commitment to build a new railway line to Marsden Point port in Northland and to upgrade the line between Auckland and Whangarei also in Northland.

NEW Zealand’s National Railway KiwiRail says it expects to re-open the Christchurch - Picton section of the South Island Main Trunk Line by September, 10 months after an earthquake caused significant damage to the route.

NEW Zealand’s national railway KiwiRail suffered a dramatic decline in profitability in the six months ending December 31 2016, largely due to the impact of November’s Kaikoura earthquake, which has severed the Main Trunk Line between Picton and Christchurch.

NEW Zealand operator KiwiRail is having to contend with the indefinite closure of a second line on the South Island after a scrub fire badly damaged a major viaduct on the line linking Christchurch and the West Coast.

KIWIRAIL enters 2017 facing a number of short and long-term challenges, and how these issues are tackled will determine the future nature and extent of railway services in New Zealand over the coming decades.

KIWIRAIL has announced plans to abandon electric haulage of freight trains on the Hamilton - Palmerston North section of the North Island Main Trunk line, which was electrified in the early 1980s.

NEW Zealand’s South Island Main Trunk railway between Christchurch and Picton could be closed for several months following the devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake which struck near the coastal town of Kaikoura, 170km north of Christchurch, on November 14.

AUCKLAND Transport CEO Mr David Warburton has confirmed that the cost of constructing Auckland's City Rail Link will rise by $NZ 500m ($US 362m) to more than $NZ 3bn because of the need for further unspecified improvements to the existing network.

NEW Zealand's national rail operator, KiwiRail, has posted a net loss of $NZ 16.2m ($US 10.94m) for the six months to December 31 2015. This is an increase of $NZ 9.4m compared with the same period in 2014.