Short-sighted transport policy to blame for KiwiRail lay-offs

The “stupid decision” that has resulted in 158 jobs lost at KiwiRail is a direct result of unrealistic financial targets imposed on rail by the Government, Labour’s Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“KiwiRail is desperately trying to save $200 million by deferring network maintenance over the next three years.

“It is a stupid decision that has been forced on the company by a short-sighted Government policy that is setting KiwiRail up to fail, while it pours billions of dollars into uneconomic motorway projects.

“Our transport system needs a modern, efficient rail network. You only need to look at the huge volumes of freight Fonterra, as well as MainFreight and Toll, are shipping around the country by rail.

“There is plenty of freight that can be most efficiently moved by rail but for that to happen KiwiRail needs to be able to deliver a reliable and effective service.

“Cutting back on network maintenance will mean the track isn’t repaired, trains will take longer to get from A to B, and KiwiRail will struggle to compete with long-haul trucking.

“These job losses are a consequence of National’s obsession with motorways at the expense of all other parts of the transport system.  On one hand Gerry Brownlee defends billion dollar motorway projects that are poor value for money by the Government’s own figures, and then KiwiRail is told it has to find $3.75 billion from its own balance sheet for capital investment.

“Nowhere in the world is a national railway expected to run at a profit except on Planet Key.

“These job losses will hurt local communities. They follow a string of lay-offs around provincial New Zealand and the worst thing is they are completely unnecessary,” said Phil Twyford.