Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister for Rail

Minister for Rail Winston Peters says the decision by the KiwiRail board to retire the Aratere from service is about the next 60 years of rail on the Cook Strait. Ferry Holdings supports this decision.

“We will not waste one tax dollar on shuffling infrastructure to keep the vessel in service for the sake of it or add any infrastructure risk to our objective of completion in 2029. That would have cost $120 million.

“Building marine infrastructure while ferries are berthing there can't be done.

“The Aratere berth in Wellington requires work to be done on it, saving the taxpayer considerable money compared to iReX’s brand new infrastructure,” Mr Peters says.

The Aratere berth in Picton will be demolished and a new, double lane linkspan will be built in its place to serve road and rail for the next 60 years.

“Under iReX, a whole temporary operation was to be built at taxpayers’ expense only to knock it down when permanent infrastructure was built, plus ‘Taj Mahal’ terminal buildings and expensive works across the wider yards in Wellington and Picton. That is not good use of funds, and we are getting the taxpayer a superior deal.

“KiwiRail has briefed us on their plans to serve the market in the interim. Goods will still get from A to B by shifting freight on to the Kaitaki and Kaiārahi, making use of coastal shipping for some heavy freight such as grain, and adapting their rail and ferry schedules to best suit the market.

“Passengers will still have capacity, and we may see some evening sailings being busier than normal around Christmas and Easter.

“We know that job losses are hard. KiwiRail advise us that voluntary redundancy will be offered across the wider Interislander team, and they will be seeking redeployment opportunities where possible,” Mr Peters says.

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