Kiwirail has announced a profit lower than last year off the back of issues with its new engines and the Aratere ferry.
The state owned enterprise today reported a profit of $77.5 – down 28% on last year, on revenue similar to the previous year at $724 million.
But with write-offs of assets the total loss is effectively $248 million.
The company says the profit fall was partially the result of the issues with their equipment.
“This was due to the significant costs of the Aratere outage, asbestos contamination in some DL locomotives and reduced revenue from our commodity-based customers, particularly during the period April to June this year,” the company says in its report.
Between 2013 and 2014 rail freight revenue was steady, the bulk business segment declined by almost 5%; a 2% decline in import/export freight was offset by a rise of over 6% in the domestic freight segment.
“Our Interislander passenger revenue was down over 9% because of the Aratere outage during the peak summer season, although there was an increase in commercial vehicle freight revenue of nearly 2%,” the report notes.
Passenger revenue was up by 71% as a result of good performance in both Scenic and Tranz Metro.
On a sage note, it reported a 45% reduction in total injuries.
