Support from the forestry sector and KiwiRail is critical for the success of the proposed Wairoa rail hub, a forestry boss says.
Hawke’s Bay Forestry Group chief executive Keith Dolman says local forestry operators have committed around 20 % forestry volume to rail and are committed to the reopening of the line, the Wairoa Star reports.
“If KiwiRail committed to four to six daily truck loads to a Wairoa railhead, this commitment would be much greater,” Dolman told the Wairoa Star.
Work is already underway on restabilising the Napier to Wairoa rail line as part of the Government’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund.
KiwiRail North Island network services manager Henare Clarke says the first log train is expected to run on the line by the end of the year.
It has been six years since the line was last in regular use.
The Government has allocated $5 million to the project, which is expected to take two years to fully complete.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy says the state-owned company is “committed to enabling sustainable and inclusive economic growth and the Government’s investment in promoting rail in the regions will enable us to step up that work”.
“Moving logs by rail takes pressure off the roads, and reduces greenhouse gases. The Wairoa-Napier road is not designed to cope with the growing volumes of logs now that the ‘Wall of Wood” is coming on stream and rail is the ideal way of getting that timber to overseas customers.
“We have estimated that using the Wairoa-Napier line to move the logs could take up to 5,714 trucks a year off the road, and reduce carbon emissions by 1292 tonnes,” Reidy says.
