Connecting the south by rail

Otago Daily Times

6 days ago

Passengers prepare to take a return journey to Christchurch on the Southerner earlier this month. Photo: Linda Robertson
The rhythmic sway of the train moving through our stunning Otago countryside is a special part of the Southerner experience. As Robert Louis Stevenson famously said, "All of the sights of the hill and the plain; Fly as thick as driving rain". The last time I rode the Southerner was in 2001 — I recall the pleasure of the landscape, the book I was reading (Pig Earth by John Berger) not to mention the coffee and sandwich I enjoyed along the way. Inexplicably, the following year this great train service was put to bed.
We look forward to the day when a trip to Christchurch by train is the normal way to travel, a journey that can be as productive as we need or as relaxing as we want. And there is an appetite for it. When Great Journeys recently announced a limited return of the Southerner for several days this year, people were enthusiastic. Tickets were sold out within days of going on sale. Demand for the return of a regular service is strong.
On a recent Sunday, I joined other MPs, councillors and members of the public at a "Save Our Trains" forum in Dunedin to discuss steps we will need to take to restore passenger rail in the South, to restore the Southerner. Also that weekend, there was an announcement at the Regional Development Summit of funding for an "inland port" and the reopening of the Hillside Workshops maintenance facilities. The time is ripe for a restoration of passenger rail alongside an increase in freight by rail.
A train trip is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel and produces about 80-90% fewer CO₂ emissions compared to the same trip with a flight. With the rising costs and general inconvenience of flying between regional centres, passenger rail stacks up both financially and environmentally. This matters.
Recently I attended a presentation by Antarctica New Zealand where we heard about the scientific research under way in Antarctica, including all important climate science. Antarctica's ice plays a crucial role in regulating global climate while its melting ice also raises sea levels. The Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "Doomsday Glacier" is now at risk of catastrophic failure, and when it slides into the sea and melts, it will raise sea-levels by about 80cm and trigger more ice loss, more sea-level rise.
We should be urgently taking every action we can to reduce emissions in order to slow global heating (and reduce the risk from the collapse of the Doomsday Glacier). One of the most sensible things to do is to reduce emissions from transport. Clearly passenger rail has a critical role to play here. We already have the tracks, and Hillside Workshops is now back up and running. Let's not forget that Aotearoa was once linked up by passenger rail between regions and main centres — including from Christchurch to Dunedin — and to a myriad of small towns in between. By the turn of the century this once thriving rail network was pared back to a mere skeleton of its former self. The 2025 government Budget revealed some funding for rail, but it is all for the North Island, and much more is being spent on urban highways, again leaving us in the Deep South out in the cold.
This could change if our southern voice is heard loudly enough in Wellington and when southern MPs from both government and opposition do the mahi to support a restoration of passenger rail. Already there appears to be a consensus among most southern MPs that the restoration of the Southerner is desirable, and the question then turns to how. The Green Party Budget launched in May sets out a clear budget for the return of several inter-regional rail connections including our Southerner. Save Our Trains has prepared a handy factsheet about the feasibility of this rail link on their website. We can have a transport network that works for everyone, giving people real choice. Travelling by train through ever-changing landscapes is a special pleasure we should all be able to enjoy, "[as] ever again, in the wink of an eye; Painted stations whistle by". Time to leave the station, let the rhythm of rail do its thing, and embrace the journey!
Scott Willis is an Ōtepoti-based Green Party MP. Each week in this column writers address issues of sustainability.