Should 'We' Close Down KiwiRail ?

Graeme from Frankton

A Bit Of History , and some of you can probably add to this --


-- KiwiRail and whatever it has been called over the years , has been a great job creation scheme -- it has kept a lot of people employed , on quite good pay .
-- It seems to have lost money for the last 40-50 years , at least .
-- From the 1930's until the 1980's , trucks were not allowed to compete with Rail . Trucks originally were only allowed to travel 30 miles ( 50kms ) -- in the 1960's that was slightly improved to 40miles ( 70kms ) , and in the 1980's increased again to 150kms ( we had gone metric , and that was about 90 miles ) .
-- Rail has been sold a couple of times by the Government for next to nothing , run even further into the ground , then bought back and $100's of millions more put in again .
-- In 2010 , the Government put a $1billion 'investment' ( of our money ) into bailing out Rail .
-- In 2017 , the Government put a $450 million 'investment' ( of our money ) into bailing out Rail .
-- In 2019 ( this weeks budget ) , the Government put a $1 billion 'investment' ( of our money ) into bailing out Rail .
-- In 2018 , the Government put $10's of millions of 'investment' into the Kaikoura and TranzAlpine trains .
-- In 2018 , the Government put $100's of millions into rebuilding the main trunk railway through Kaikoura . They also put 100's of millions into rebuilding SH1 too , but that is covered by insurance and our fuel taxes and RUC -- rail pays none of those .
-- KiwiRail has lost in the region of $100million to $200million per year on trading ( running the trains and maintaining the tracks ) .
-- Trucking companies , bus companies , and private motorists , ( Rails main competition ) by comparison , generally make money , and pay tax and GST . Private motorists don't , but I am sure you get the point . Trucks , buses and cars do pay fuel tax and RUC ( where relevant ) and rego , even a bit of tolls .


Now imagine if 'we' took the $6 billion plus that has been pumped into KiwiRail over the last 20 years , and spent it on safer roads , more double and triple lanes , passing lanes , etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . .