Mr Malcolm backs change

Press, 21 November 1981, Page 22

Mr Malcolm backs change

The: establishment of the Railways Corporation in April, 1982, will keep the department one step away from. interfering politicians, according to the Associate Minister of Transport (Mr Malcolm). “Many of the problems of the Railways have been caused by interfering politicians not skilled at making long-term decisions,” he said. Mr Malcolm was opening the conference of the Chartered Institute of Tran-

sport, in Christchurch. Mr E. E. McQueen, Assistant General Manager of Railways, said the statutory powers embodied with the formation of the corporation would provide the immediate potential for profitable operation. “The corporation will be empowered to covert the present, very heavy debt burden into equity capital, which will save it more than $3O million a year, and it will also be entitled to claim

specific compensation from the Government for the continued provision of costly social services,” he said. Mr McQueen outlined the history of the Railways, from steam through diesel to electrification, the difference in the kind of freight carried from the times when coal and livestock* dominated to the great growth in containers and forestry today, and the decline in passengers. "In 1940, the number of rail passenger journeys was 26.3 million, but today the figure stands at 14.9 million. In the 19405, rail passengers provided about 25 per cent of railway revenue. That figure today has dropped to about 5 per cent. “In New Zealand in 1940 there was one private car for every 7.4 people. Today there is one car for every 2.4 people. There seems to be no force which is capable of prising the motorist away from his car. “Frankly I can see little increase in long-distance rail passenger transport. Consistently heavy train loading is essential to the success of train operations in both financial and energy-saving terms, and natural density of traffic simply does not exist in New Zealand.

‘‘However, the Railways certainly has no plan to withdraw from its present long-distance rail passenger operations,” Mr McQueen said. Mr Malcolm, in his opening address, said that Labour Party policy on transport would lead to a system dominated by the unions with a Wellington-based group to decide which transport mode would be used in each region. National “would provide efficiency through competition.” Annual awards were presented at the conference. The BP Transport Awprd was won by Mr E. J. Knox (N.Z.R., Wellington) for a paper on the electrification of -the Main Trunk line. Examination awards were: Mr P. G. Hollier (M.0.T., Wellington).!, Mr A. J. des Landes (Hawke’s Bay Harbour Board) and Mr B. M. Carter (N.Z.R. Te Kuiti) equal 2. Students’ award: Mr M. C. Payze (Shipping Corporation, Wellington). Journalists’ award: Mr W. Berryman (N.8.R., Auckland).