Slow Decline of New Zealand

New Zealand is going backwards slowly, inexorably. The latest example of this comes with the news that the country's only rail enabled Cook Strait ferry is to be shut down, with no replacement in sight. Of course, that's not what the incompetent politicians in Wellington are saying, they're spinning it as saving the taxpayer money (of course they would). 

By doing away with the last rail enabled ferry, the rail link from one end of the country to the other will be broken for the first time since the Cook Strait ferries were introduced in 1962. Before then, rail freight could not be transported on the same wagon right through the country. Instead, coastal shipping was used; for instance from Nelson to Wellington, the journey was by overnight vessel via French Pass, or from Lyttelton (Christchurch) to Wellington. Or we can go farther back, getting from Wellington to Auckland meant taking a ship to New Plymouth and then rail from there to Auckland. 

When the Cook Strait ferries came along, for the first time a rail journey could start in Invercargill at one end of the country in the deep south, and end at Whangarei in the far north, the whole journey could take place with the same wagon taking the entire trip. 

But now, this is all too difficult. The government owned rail company want to replace the ferries they currently run. Those new ferries are intended to be rail enabled, except they're at least four years away and no contract has been signed for their construction. Do you smell bullshit at this stage? I certainly do.

These new ferries won't match the existing infrastructure, so new facilities must be built. The usual way to do this would be to build the new facilities alongside the old, and continue using the old until the new ships arrive. Given this is the most sensible approach, my thinking is the country is being lied to, no rail enabled ferries will arrive.

Future governments will, likely, simply cancel the whole idea of a rail connected country, effectively taking NZ back in time to an age when everything was much more difficult to do. I see this approach happen all the time, and this is largely driven by the North Island who see no point in connecting the whole country as they live in their North Island bubble.

This is another reason to say goodbye to the North Island, the South Island needs to go it alone and achieve independence. If it does not become independent then the South Island will be destroyed by the idiots in the North, mark my words. 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/559509/aratere-interislander-s-only-rail-enabled-ferry-to-retire

Cook Strait Connection

With the government refusing to fund the cost blowout of the proposed upgrade to the Cook Strait ferry service run by KiwiRail, is it time to revisit the idea of a Cook Strait tunnel?

I addressed the feasibility of such a project here: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2016/01/cook-strait-tunnel.html

The government has turned down KiwiRail: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/504650/interislander-ferry-fleet-project-to-wind-down-after-being-denied-further-government-funding

New Zealand is a funny little country at times. It always chases the newest fad, and ditches the old quickly. Problem is, when the fad is no longer viable or is proven to be a dud, nothing is left to revert back to. This is what has happened to NZ's transport network. Rail and coastal shipping have been left to atrophy while the country got carried away with road and air transport. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost. NZ needs to think longer term, keeping all options available for a robust system. This is vital as the country has many rivers, and a long thin country made up of many islands. Keeping the country connected means juggling everything, not just relying on a few options.

KiwiRail: Beginning of the End

The latest announcement from KiwiRail puts another nail in the coffin of New Zealand's North Island rail system, and undermines the NZ economy to boot. They've announced they're replacing North Island main trunk electric locomotives with diesel ones.

Does no-one in NZ have a brain? Does no-one remember the trouble the country went through to electrify the North Island main trunk line. The only trouble with it, is the system is not connected up, there are gaps, these missing sections need to be completed. But to go backwards like this is poor thinking indeed.

The Union are opposed, good on them, they're right: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=95658 

“Our models show that reinvesting in an electric fleet is better for KiwiRail’s wallet in the long term and it’s better for the planet. The current electric fleet saves 8 million litres in fuel each year and the price of upkeep is only $1.13 per km, but the Chinese-made diesel locomotives will guzzle the gas the electric fleet saves and the likely cost of upkeep will be $2.27 per km.”

I'd add, consider the extra tonnage the electric trains can pull, this was a compelling argument back when the decision was made to upgrade. The revenue tonnage per mile is much better with electric, meaning you can transport bigger loads at less cost, with longer trains.

What this decision does is show the weakness of the current State Owned Enterprise (SOE) model. Key infrastructure decisions are left to wing-nuts. Decisions like this have to be made after lengthy consideration and I'm talking Prime Minister. Oh wait, New Zealand has a pretend Southland farmer as its PM now, well we're all jiggered.

I noticed the Greens being suitably outraged, well Greens, stop sitting on the sidelines all the time, enter government and take ownership if you think you're good enough. Your sitting in Wellington and being a permanent naysayer does not get anything done, you need to actually do shit. Stop being a spectator.