Protest against diesel trains

Placard wielding protesters gathered at the Edgewater Strand rail crossing at midday to highlight a 'looming mistake” they say the Government is about to make.

According to protesters, the Government is pressuring KiwiRail to buy diesel powered locomotives when electric locomotives are more sustainable.

Tauranga rail protesters. Photo: Supplied

Tauranga protest organiser Dr Ian McLean says the protest, coinciding with a parliamentary protest being held to in Wellington today, saw about seven people attend hoping to sway the Government.

He says the North Island main trunk rail line between Palmerston North and Te Rapa was electrified in a four year project starting in 1984.

'I don't know if KiwiRail had made a decision prior to the pressure from the Government or not,” says Ian.

'For reasons that have never been made clear the Government is now putting pressure on KiwiRail to buy diesel trains.”

In April 3news reported that KiwiRail is considering replacing the 30-year-old fleet of electric locomotives with a cheaper diesel fleet.

The electric locomotives' performance is increasingly unreliable, and is impacting on KiwiRail's on-time performance and undermining customer confidence, said corporate responsibility manager Karl Check.

The Auckland/Wellington route is a key area KiwiRail has identified for reclaiming market share lost to road transport, but KiwiRail needs to offer a competitive service.

Rail accounts for less than two percent of the energy used in the entire transport sector, but carries 16 per cent of freight and dramatically reduces the number of trucks on the roads, said Karl.

Ian says the only sensible explanation for the current move is that the Government believes it can buy diesel engines cheaper.

'They bought a bunch of diesel engines from China about three years ago and those were a disaster.”

The break down rate was high, with one train driver telling him they broke down on every trip he took on them. It was discovered after purchase that asbestos was used in the paint. While the purchase price may have been cheap, the ensuing maintenance and repairs required to get them rail worthy was not.

'That earlier purchase was pretty much a disaster for KiwiRail, but that has not been widely advertised,” says Ian.

'Now they are buying new trains and the Government is putting pressure of KiwiRail to buy diesel, and that just makes no sense at all.

'The reality is they are not looking at the future costs. They are only looking at the immediate capital costs.”

Photo: Wikipedia.

There's uncertainty over the future cost of diesel, and Ian asks why the Government is choosing a climate change fuel when New Zealand has an almost completely sustainable electricity supply.

'And we are looking at an investment that is going to last 30 years.”

He adds the Government is also ignoring a clear message from the public to take the lead and to immediately introduce carbon reduction policies.

'The government has been consulting on three things; the flag, the white paper on defence. Some people know about that; but almost on one knows about the consultation on global warming.”

The consultation on global warming is so the Government could get a clear message on what it is to say at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.

Ian says it didn't tell anybody about the consultations which were scheduled for difficult times and held in funny places.

The Green Party learned of the times and places and posted them on social media. The result was that dozens of people showed up to give the Government the benefit of their advice.

Many of whom were Green Party supporters, but the Government received a very clear message, says Ian.

'You must show leadership. You must introduce carbon reduction policies, now. And that's the message you have got to take to Paris.

'It's probably not the message they were after. But that's what they got and they got it loud and clear from those meetings. In a sense it serve them right.

'But they have been given a clear message by the public show leadership embrace the need to reduce the carbon footprint by 40 per cent against 1990 levels, and get on with it. Now.

'What's the next decision we get? KiwiRail should buy diesel engines. We are talking serious inconsistency with their own consultation process – aside from all of the other issues.”

Transport Minister and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges could not be reached for comment.

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9 comments

A few comments

Posted on 01-07-2015 17:18 | By BullShtAlert

Electric trains are more sustainable when the electricity is from renewable hydro? But when was the last time NZ built a new hydro plant? Surely the placard about China marching forward on climate change is a joke? Anybody been there lately and seen the almost perpetual smog looming over the country? Any change wouldn't simply need to be a march forward, it would need to be a complete about face. Somehow I can't see that happening in China. But if it is so attractive maybe the environmentalist will move there?


Bravo.

Posted on 01-07-2015 17:48 | By ronillian

I recently read that New Zealand has the highest % of climate change sceptics in the world. But I didn't expect that so many of them would be on the Govt benches and in Ministerial posts as well as in charge of Kiwirail!! Good on these protesters for being the conscience of the population and drawing attention to such decisions that fail miserably to transition NZ away from fossil fuels. Shame on Kiwirail and shame on this govt for failing to take strong decisive action against climate change.


7 people?

Posted on 01-07-2015 18:31 | By Devils-advocate

That's certainly sending a strong message to the government


change

Posted on 01-07-2015 19:07 | By dumbkof2

climate has been changing up and down for millions of years whats so different about it now first of all they called it global warming then when the greenies were proved wrong they changed it what wil they call it next


Watermelons again!

Posted on 01-07-2015 21:05 | By How about this view!

"Tauranga man Dr Ian McLean has been announced at the Green Party's candidate in the 2014 general election." This was the FIRST article found when doing a Google search! Seven protesters is about par for the course with these money wasters. And the usual comments from ronillian.... From one minority group protest meeting to another!! If your not wasting your breath about mining, you're beating the drum for another meaningless cause.


dumbkof2

Posted on 02-07-2015 00:30 | By YOGI BEAR

It perhaps is not much to think about for the cause of Climate change, but whatever the reason for it natural or otherwise the consequences are not good should it run a full course as was the case particularly 260 million years ago when most coal/oil/gas deposits were created.


The climate is

Posted on 02-07-2015 08:15 | By earlybird

certainly changing but I'm not convinced that anyone can actually prove whether it's cause is man made or natural. We've seen the flooding from tremendous rainfall in some areas and prolonged drought in others. That should tell us that there is a real chance that NZ might one day be subject to a prolonged drought too. That, of course, will affect the power generation of hydro dams. I don't think we should put all our eggs in one basket. A bit like allowing Auckland to get bigger and bigger when we know that it's built on 50 or so volcanos. If Auckland blows or we have a countrywide drought it's likely to be goodbye NZ.


earlybird

Posted on 02-07-2015 10:05 | By YOGI BEAR

True but if mankind is adding to the problem then man will determine his own demise.


Climate change hoax

Posted on 02-07-2015 13:50 | By Ron

Kiwirail should choose the most cost effective energy.


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