A public meeting of the Save Our Trains campaign will be held on Wednesday 19 April 2023 from 6:00pm – 7:30pm at Tūranga, 60 Cathedral Square, Christchurch.

Save Our Trains spokesperson Patrick Rooney says the inaugural Christchurch meeting for the campaign will discuss how a return of passenger rail to Canterbury could connect people, encourage economic development, and help reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Rooney will introduce the campaign and there will then be a panel discussion featuring Joe Davies (ECan Regional Councillor), Brendan Harre (Local Rail Advocate) and Sophie McInnes (Selwyn District Councillor.)

Mr Rooney says the Save Our Trains campaign is focussed on rebuilding high quality and affordable inter regional passenger rail services throughout New Zealand.

Canterbury was built for rail, says Mr Rooney.

“Tracks connect Christchurch to all major commuter towns and regional centres. Inter-regional passenger trains once connected the region to centres across the South Island.”

Mr Rooney has been touring the South Island to promote the campaign and spoke in Dunedin last weekend.

He says there has been strong interest in revitalizing an intercity service such as the former Southerner service.

Mr Rooney says passenger rail has many social and environmental benefits but will require investment and leadership to fulfil its potential.

He says the purpose of the meeting will be to promote passenger rail and to build a local network of supporters to put the issue on the agenda for the general election and going forward.

Save Our Trains is one of the supporting organizations of a national passenger rail conference The Future Is Rail: Reconnecting Aotearoa 2030 to be held in Wellington on 28 June.

The Save Our Trains campaign was started in January 2022 by concerned members of the public focused on maintaining and developing passenger rail services.

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