Last week the new government effectively cancelled the plans of Kiwi Rail – in the form of 'The Interislander' – derailing its intended Picton rail and road expansion. The plans were judged to be too costly; in particular, the rate of cost escalation .
Dr André Brett is a historian, researcher and writer who specialises in Australian and New Zealand history, in particular histories of politics, railways, the environment, and the economy. The Wollongong-based New Zealander's latest book, Can't Get There from Here: New Zealand's Shrinking Passenger Rail Network, 1920-2020, traces the expansion and - more commonly - the contraction of New Zealand's passenger rail network over the last century. Indeed, New Zealand now has less than 1500km of track for passenger services - the lowest total since the 1870s - while only Wellington and Auckland have meaningful everyday rail transport. Dr Brett is with us to discuss the new book, the role rail has played in New Zealanders' lives over the years, and how we have been left with an attenuated passenger railway that is unfit for the 21st century.
The Kiwi Station rail protest in 1955. Credit: Nelson Provincial Museum, Geoffrey C Wood Collection.
An Auckland University report out earlier this month which concluded that New Zealand’s roading system has added to our psychological distress makes for sobering reading. Nelson’s ongoing transport woes and debate have been caused of course by the past actions of short-sighted politicians who became hell-bent on dismantling perfectly good infrastructure which now has to patched over by future generations. I’m talking here about Nelson Railway, which used to be one of the best little government-owned rail lines in the country. Always carrying passengers and freight alike, unusual for an unconnected regional line, it operated for 79 years between 1876 and 1955. Starting in Port Nelson, trains would head up St Vincent Street through Bishopdale and onto Stoke, Richmond, Foxhill and Belgrove.