Inter-regional rail inquiry report. What next?

The report on Inter-regional passenger rail in Aotearoa is out. It looks good on the surface but the devil is in the detail and the proof will be money and action.

After quite a number of delays, Parliament’s Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee finally released its report on the Inquiry into the future of inter-regional passenger rail in New Zealand on Monday, 3rd July 2023. While there is a lot to like, there are also some areas of concern. And the government is due to respond to the reports findings on the 27th of September, right in the middle of the 2023 national election campaign.

Cover of the select committee’s report. Source: New Zealand Parliament

The report’s recommendations

A quick summary of the report’s recommendations follows. For the full recommendations, download the report here.

1. Government clearly identify a transport-sector agency to provide system leadership and guidance specifically for inter-regional public transport.

2. Various tasks for said transport-sector agency. Including identifying and proposing new inter-regional public transport services, co-ordinating with regional and central government and promoting passenger rail.

3. We recommend that the Ministry of Transport investigate how the New Zealand Rail

   Plan could better incorporate inter-regional passenger rail.

4. We recommend that funding arrangements for future inter-regional passenger rail

   services reflect the level of national benefit of such services to New Zealand.

5. We recommend that scoping studies be progressed for the following inter-regional rail services:

   a) Auckland–Wellington

   b) Auckland–Tauranga

   c) Napier–Wellington

   d) an extension of the Capital Connection service to Feilding.

6. We recommend that further investigation of other potential inter-regional passenger rail routes be undertaken to meaningfully compare and identify the costs, benefits, and risks associated with different opportunities.

The biggest disappointment

A whopping 97% of submitters to the select committee supported improved inter regional passenger rail services. Which is probably not surprising given the dearth of such services at present. But against this tide of public and stakeholder support, National and Act opposed with dissenting opinions so the report only represents the views of the Labour and Greens members of the select committee. So much for any hope of bipartisanship when it comes to passenger rail. Or housing or transport in general or climate change mitigation for that matter. So the outcome of the election will determine the fate of the inquiry’s recommendations, not the voices of the 97% who submitted in favour of improved inter-regional passenger rail services.

Lead agency

The recommendation that Government clearly identify a transport-sector agency to provide system leadership and guidance specifically for inter-regional public transport is great. Not so great is that no attempt was made to identity said agency, nor recommend that a new agency be created for this purpose. It was also not clear where this agency would sit, and what budget and clout it would have in the machinery of government. Nor did it directly address the potential conflict of interest between KiwiRail’s rail network management and monopoly rail freight provider roles. Te Waihanga told the inquiry that KiwiRail’s commercial mandate means that investment decisions are often made based on the economic viability of services, rather than consideration of any wider societal costs and benefits. This means that, even if a rail service would be worthwhile from a public-value perspective, investment is still unlikely to occur. For real change to occur with passenger rail, this needs to change.

New Zealand Rail Plan update

While the recommendation to update the New Zealand Rail Plan has merit, we are also well into the planning cycle for the next iteration of the statutory Rail Network Investment Programme, Regional Land Transport Plans and Long Term Plans for the 2024-2034 decennium. Regions around Aotearoa are already well into the prioritisation process as is KiwiRail for the Rail Network Investment Programme’s next iteration.

New Zealand Rail Plan 2021, dead on arrival? Source: the Ministry of Transport and licensed by the Ministry of Transport for re-use under CC 4.0 International

In addition, the New Zealand Rail Plan, published in 2021, only makes passing reference to maintaining the existing Capital Connection and Te Huia inter-regional services, which themselves have been overtaken by events such as:

• The interim Capital Connection fleet soon to enter service on the Manawatū Line between Palmerston North and Wellington

• The 2023 pre-budget announcement of purchasing a fleet of 18 tri-mode trains for improved passenger service in the Lower North Island on the Manawatū and Wairarapa lines.

• The 2023 budget announcement of a detailed business case into electrifying the two remaining non-electrified sections of the North Island Main Trunk (Pukekohe to Te Papa, and Palmerston North to Waikanae - around 80 kilometres each) and the East Coast Main Trunk Line from Hamilton to Tauranga.

• Waikato Regional Council’s approval of a detailed business case for long-term rolling stock for the Te Huia train between Hamilton and Auckland, potentially leveraging off the rolling stock purchase for the Lower North Island.

In the report, it states that “The Ministry of Transport’s view is that improving the Rail Plan, to better incorporate interregional passenger rail services, would be more effective than establishing a new passenger rail strategy. In its view, having a separate strategy for inter-regional passenger rail would discount the interconnected relationship that investment often brings for both freight and passenger rail services.”

But it is unusual for planning for freight to be subsidiary to planning for moving people, simply because most freight on Aotearoa’s network moves at night and because the freight itself is not particularly time-sensitive, nor likely to complain if the train is late.

The recommendation that “…the Ministry of Transport investigate how the New Zealand Rail Plan could better incorporate inter-regional passenger rail.” is also a weak suggestion rather than a directive to action. Given that inter-regional passenger rail should be a core element of rail planning, it needs to be elevated to the same level of consideration as freight and metro rail services.

So clearly the current New Zealand Rail Plan is way out of date. And a key problem with current rail planning in Aotearoa is that the commercial interests of KiwiRail as the monopoly rail freight provides are often conflated with rail network development. This is due to the multiple hats KiwiRail has as rail network manager, monopoly rail freight provider, inter-island ferry operator, and operator of boutique long-distance rail ‘experiences’ targeted at affluent international visitors. There needs to be a clear separation of what is good for passenger services, including inter-regional services, and what is good for the transport of freight.

But perhaps most importantly, the funding horse is close to bolting, if it hasn’t already bolted, for the short- to medium-term. At best a refreshed New Zealand Rail Plan can only influence funding from 2027 onwards, while Aotearoa has no time to waste to meet our statutory target of net zero emissions by 2050, with substantial progress needed in the remainder of this decade. And for the decade to 2034, the contents of the next iteration of the Rail Network Investment Programme will determine when and where rail investment will go. Which in itself is problematic as, under the Land Transport Management Act, KiwiRail prepares the plan and is able to propose funding for its own monopoly rail freight operation in an organisation whose revenue largely comes from its own freight operation.

Follow the money. The Rail Network Investment Programme is where the rail dollars are allocated. Source: KiwiRail

In this, it is always worth remembering the quote of Brent Toderian, former chief planner of Vancouver:

Source: Brent Toderian, Toderian UrbanWorks via Twitter

This is a case of following the money, wherever it may lead. And money and political will and stamina needs to follow high-sounding principle and vision statement.

Honey, I lost the South Island …

The report’s recommendations on investigating new services has some merit in it with the choice of the following priority investigations.

a) Auckland–Wellington

b) Auckland–Tauranga

c) Napier–Wellington

d) an extension of the Capital Connection service to Feilding.

Clearly, the Upper North Island, home to half of Aotearoa’s population, needs to be part of this with passenger rail service to Tauranga. The proposal for a revived night train between Auckland and Wellington, as well as an inter-regional connector train between Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton and Te Papaioea/ Palmerston North, received a warm reception at the Future is Rail conference. And good to see the Hawkes Bay in the mix too.

But a couple of things were lost in the mix. As was made clear by Cr. Angela Strange from Waikato Regional Council at the Future is Rail Conference in Wellington on Wednesday 28th June 2023, the funding for Te Huia train between Hamilton and Auckland is only secure until 30th June 2024. It would seem that a good first step would be to secure the future of a trial rail service already in operation.

But the biggest thing that seems to be missing is that the select committee appears to have misplaced (or plain forgotten about) Aotearoa’s largest island, Te Wai Pounamu/ South Island, home to Aotearoa’s second largest city, Ōtautahi/ Christchurch. Which itself is the largest city in Australasia not to have any rail based urban transit (apart from a dinky tourist-focused tram circuit in the city centre).

In case the select committee members are in need of clarification, this is what Te Wai Pounamu/ South Island looks like. On a clear day, you can even see it from the nation’s capital, Te Whanganui-a-Tara/ Wellington.

The South Island, in case anyone has misplaced it. Source © Google Maps

A key element of a national rail network is that it should serve the whole nation. As Dunedin City Councillor, Jim O’Malley, pointed out at the Future of Rail Conference, Dunedin City Council has been a staunch supporter of passenger rail and is in the unique position of owning its own railway company, Dunedin Railways. He also pointed out, and this was attested to by the Future is Rail meetings in the Lower South Island, that there is still a strong groundswell of support for a revived Southerner train between Ōtautahi/ Christchurch, Ōtepoti/ Dunedin and Waihopai/ Invercargill. So please let’s not forget about the south.

Final thoughts

The opportunity presented by the findings of the Inquiry into Inter-regional passenger rail are positive but they are also only a very tentative first step on what will be a very long journey for Aotearoa to once again have a connected national passenger rail network befitting our ‘clean, green’ and ‘pure New Zealand’ branding, providing inclusive, affordable access across Aotearoa. But, as the Future is Rail campaign said in a tweet “we are at the equivalent of Paraparaumu on the journey to Auckland…but at least we’ve left Wellington Station!”

As always, the devil is in the detail and there is a risk that new passenger rail service proposals get stuck in business case spin cycle, gyrating at high speed but going nowhere, benefitting no-one except the consultancies charged with delivering said business cases. The need for central government to take a co-ordinating and driving role in this process cannot be overstated. And of course, Aotearoa’s largest island needs to be part of the passenger rail journey.