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Rail advocacy group Save Our Trains – Southern has lodged a proposal with the Infrastructure Commission’s Infrastructure Priorities Programme for a full-scale passenger rail service across the South Island.
The proposal outlines a daily, return passenger service linking Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch, with an additional return service between Dunedin and Christchurch.
Initial stops are proposed for Gore, Balclutha, Oamaru, Timaru and Ashburton, with potential future stops including Mataura, Milton, Mosgiel, Palmerston and Rolleston.
Save Our Trains – Southern spokesperson Dave Macpherson says the group is advocating for a modern passenger rail service to serve communities along the route.
“For the price of only one kilometre of new motorway, the South Island could have a passenger rail service fit for a modern country, serving the 750,000 people who live along the Christchurch to Invercargill corridor,” Dave says.
The proposal recommends three new train units for the South Island, from the same family as the 18 units recently contracted by the Government for North Island long-distance services. An interim service could be delivered using existing rolling stock already available in New Zealand.
The submission follows a petition in support of the service that was presented to Parliament in July, and ahead of a planned hearing on the group’s submission to Parliament’s Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee early next year.
Dave says there is growing support across the South Island for renewed passenger rail services.
“While there is still a lot of work to do, there is strong support for passenger rail in the south, and we are working with a cross-party group of MPs to ensure the region receives a fair share of transport infrastructure investment,” he says.
The group points to the cost of major road projects as part of its argument, noting that the 17 Roads of National Significance approved to date have a combined expected cost of $43.3 billion across 251 kilometres.
“That equates to about $170 million per kilometre, which is considerably more than the total cost of getting modern passenger rail under way in the south,” Dave says.
