Jobless pilots becoming train drivers in Auckland
Hundreds of New Zealand pilots have been laid off since airlines were grounded during the global pandemic - and now a group are looking to the railways for employment. So far, 34 pilots have applied to switch wings for the tracks and become train drivers for the city's rail network.
Transdev operates Auckland's commuter rail service, and employs 200 train drivers in the city. Its managing director, Peter Lensink, said he was pleased to be able to offer employment to pilots, whose skills were ideal for driving trains. "I really feel for the pilots who are in this position and I'm really pleased we have an alternative and hope they will adapt to driving a train on a piece of metal instead of flying free up in the air," he said. "We only hire highly skilled people and airline pilots have got similarities to the skills and competencies required as a train driver."
Lensink said both the airline and rail sectors had a strong safety culture and required specific skills, including concentration. A qualified train driver earns just more than $40 an hour. "While it might be more exciting for some people to see Auckland from the air, I think it's even more exciting to see Auckland up close and unfolding in front of you," Lensink said. Although there is one helicopter pilot among Auckland's train drivers, Lensink said this was the first time pilots were being recruited.
"We've got a great opportunity because we are growing and gearing up here in Auckland for the City Rail Link. That will double the amount of services here in four to five years time. We're therefore able to recruit a large number of train drivers for the future." He said there had been a lot of contact between leaders in the airline and railway sectors, including Air New Zealand. "Once the word is out and people see the link between the roles and opportunities the railways have, I expect to see more [pilots] coming into the recruitment process." Lensink said the pilots would go through "intense" recruitment scrutiny - including having eyesight tests - before training in June. Training will be held at the Wiri depot - a stone's throw from Auckland Airport.
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Poll: Should the government levy industries that contribute to financial hardship?
As reported in the Post, there’s a $30 million funding gap in financial mentoring. This has led to services closing and mentors stepping in unpaid just to keep helping people in need 🪙💰🪙
One proposed solution? Small levies on industries that profit from financial hardship — like banks, casinos, and similar companies.
So we want to hear what you think:
Should the government ask these industries to contribute?
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58.9% Yes, supporting people is important!
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26.1% No, individuals should take responsibility
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15% ... It is complicated
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Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
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