Passenger train service may end

Press, 27 December 1985, Page 1

Passenger train service may end

PA Wellington The Government will decide early next year whether to scrap all longdistance passenger train services, says the Minister of Railways, Mr Prebble. Mr Prebble says there are strong arguments for scrapping the passenger trains, once the nation’s transport mainstay and carrier of millions over the last 100 years. Mr Prebble said the future of the services would be decided when Cabinet voted whether to buy a new fleet of modern railcars, estimated to cost about $2O million to replace trains such as the Northerner, the Southerner, and the Endeavour. The Railways Corporation has recommended that any replacements be railcars and that the same type be bought for all services to provide flexibility. They would aim to compete with long-distance buses rather than air travel, but provide aircraft-type seating, food and drinks, toilets and video-tape entertainment. However, Mr Prebble said that the six-year gap since the luxury Silver Star was withdrawn from thb Wellington-Auckland overnight tun had not helped the case for buying the new railcars. “There is an argument and frankly there is an element of truth in it, that the Railways passenger services are not an essential social service. “Thirty years ago the only way to travel inter-city in New Zealand was by

Railways passenger services. It is a fact that intercity buses coyld provide a reasonable service everywhere rail passenger services are now providing a service,” said Mr Prebble. “That is a pretty tough decision for the Government. I am not sure new trains will be purchased, and it is a decision that is outside my own ability to make as Minister of Railways. However, it is not a secret that I personally would like to see a rail passenger service.” Mr Prebble said the decision came down to either new trains, about $1 million a carriage, or nothing. All current long-distance services use refurbished 50-year-old carriages. “The Northerner and the Southerner have both reached the end of their economic life. The Railways would have liked to replace those trains some years ago. “It is not a question of shall we have new trains or keep the old ones. If we want passenger services we have to order new stock, and we have to order in the next 12 months,” said Mr Prebble. The $2O million purchase cost of new trains Was not the only money consideration, said Mr Prebble. It cost Railways extra to run passenger trains on what was basically a freight train system. However, Mr Prebble said that if fixed costs of running the tracks for freight rains were ignored new passenger services could break even, which was the Government’s aim.