Latest news with #Kiwirail
1News
07-08-2025
- General
- 1News
Final Cook Strait sailing for Aratere confirmed
The Aratere will make its final journey across Cook Strait later this month, KiwiRail has confirmed. The ship's final voyage would depart from Picton at 11am on August 18 2025. Its retirement comes as the Interislander ferry Kaiārahi was expected to return to service the same day after finishing its drydock maintenance in Singapore. "Freshly painted and with its hull cleaned, and a comprehensive maintenance schedule achieved, the ship is running well and currently making good progress towards Wellington," a KiwiRail spokesperson said. The Aratere had faced problems since it entered service in the 90s. ADVERTISEMENT Among the more notable troubles was a February 1999 voyage where the ship was left adrift due to several power failures. In July 2003, it collided with a fishing vessel. Four passengers and one crew member suffered minor injuries when rail and vehicular cargo shifted during heavy weather in March 2006, resulting in a 5-degree list all the way to Picton. In November 2013, it limped back to Picton after a fatigue fracture caused its propeller to break off. In February 2023, the ship briefly broke down and was left adrift in the middle of the Cook Strait. More recently, in June 2024, the Aratere ran aground near Picton. The steering autopilot had been engaged, and staff had been unable to switch it off, an investigation found. No one was injured, and the vessel was refloated two days afterwards, with damage to its bow that required repair. ADVERTISEMENT A private farewell for the crew would be held early next month. 'Significant milestone' ahead of upgraded fleet The Aratere's retirement would also allow for work on necessary port infrastructure upgrades, as its wharf in Picton is being demolished as part of the new rail-enabled ferry project. Rail Minister Winston Peters announced at the end of March that two new Cook Strait ferries would enter service in 2029, featuring rail decks and the capacity for 40 wagons. The Aratere's design required specialised wharf infrastructure to load and unload, including integrated rail tracks, which meant it could not use Interislander's other berths. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including privacy concerns over road user charges, possible changes to Wellington's waterfront, and one of the biggest sports memorabilia heists ever. (Source: 1News) Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy said the ship's retirement marked a "significant milestone" ahead of Kiwirail's move to a more modern fleet. ADVERTISEMENT 'This is the start of our preparation for the new ships, and while it will have some impact on capacity on Cook Strait until they arrive, we will make it as smooth as possible for our passengers and freight customers. No booking changes are required for freight customers or passengers as a new two-ship timetable is already in place," he said. 'The capacity of the two new ferries will be larger than our current fleet of three ships, so while this change is challenging, it's a necessary step towards a more efficient and sustainable future,' Roy said. 'As always, we encourage customers planning to travel during the peak summer season to book early and be flexible with their travel times.' To support its rail freight operations, Interislander would use "road bridging", where freight is moved by trailer onto its vessels and reconnected with trains at the other end. "Significant preparation has already gone into super-charging this operation – including bringing in new equipment, recruiting and training new staff and fine-tuning our rail freight handling processes," Roy said. 'Our transition timetable optimises the additional time needed for road bridging to ensure all rail freight will be serviced at the levels our rail freight customers need and expect. This has already been factored into current bookings. 'We are still considering options for the sale of Aratere after retirement, and the vessel will be laid up at its Wellington berth while we work with a shipbroker.'
RNZ News
24-06-2025
- RNZ News
Here are all the Auckland train disruptions this school holidays
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Aucklanders who take the train will face more disruption this upcoming school holidays. Several train services have been in and out of action while the city's new underground rail network the City Rail Link expected to open in late 2026 was under construction. For 16 days from Saturday 28 June to Sunday 13 July, coinciding with the school and University break, no trains would run between Puhinui and Pukekohe stations on the Southern Line. There would also be fewer train services on all lines except for the Onehunga Line during that time. The pedestrian crossing at Takaanini Station would be closed to pedestrians. On the last weekend of the school holidays, 12-13 July, trains from New Lynn to Swanson on the Western Line would be suspended. Kiwirail said the partial rail network closure was needed for them to replace old foundations under tracks and upgrade drainage. Auckland Transport said there would be rail replacement buses for the closed parts of the Southern Line, including an express service from Franklin. Commuters were encouraged to check AT's website and mobile app for all temporary disruptions to the train network affecting them.
RNZ News
18-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials Podcast for Wednesday 18 June 2025
sport health 22 minutes ago The census gets a shake up and takes some pressure off the costs. The governmnet is also more than threatening to step in and over councils when it comes to housing and development - going as far as changing legislation under the RMA. In breaking news, charges have been laid against Kiwirail over the grounding of the Aratere ferry last year when it was left in the Marlborough Sounds overnight. Lastly, the cowbells are causing a stoush between the finalists Crusaders and Chiefs. Will the bells ring out this Saturday?
RNZ News
05-06-2025
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Why drivers don't stop at train crossings
Nearly half of motor vehicles fail to stop, or prepare to stop when approaching level crossings in research commissioned by Kiwirail. They were least likely to do so where there were just Give Way signs in place. The engineering and professional services consulting firm WSP observed more than 3600 drivers - 47 per cent failed to stop at crossings with Stop signs, or were ready to stop at Give Way signs. Earlier research had found more than half of the deaths in serious level crossing collisions over a ten-year period occurred at crossings with Stop or Give Way signs. There have been 25 collisions at crossings in the last two years. The report says 'Look for Trains' signs had significantly higher success getting drivers to stop and look - and a major recommendation of the review was to remove all Give Way signs for Stop signs. Paul Ashton is chief operations officer at Kiwirail. Photo: Supplied by Kiwirail
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
The Aratere And The New Zealand Main Trunk Line
Government-owned Kiwirail is supposed to be presiding over the New Zealand Main Trunk (Railway) Line, from Auckland to Invercargill. As such it runs a ferry service (The Interislander) between New Zealand's North and South Islands. We are being told by Kiwirail (and see today's report on Radio NZ) that the only rail-enabled roll-on roll-off ferry – the Aratere – will cease operations in August this year, five years before its putative successor ferries will commence operations. At the same time, rail is being revitalised in the South Island, with the Hillside workshops redevelopment. (And see the following on Scoop last Friday: New Hillside Workshops Officially Opened and Rail Workers Celebrate Hillside Workshops Rebirth.) How can this be: simultaneous expansion and contraction of New Zealand's trunk railway under the governance of the same government? There is a simple conceptual solution, which covers both the short run and the long-run. Kiwirail could relocate the Interislander's South Island terminus to Lyttelton, the rail-accessible port of Christchurch. Indeed this should have become policy after the dramatic 2016 Kaikoura earthquake which destroyed both railway and highway around Kaikoura, halfway between Wellington and Christchurch; both road and rail main trunk. Not only is the present route precarious, but also it is so much 'greener' for both road and rail traffic between the North Island and the southern 85% of the South Island (by population) to travel by sea between Wellington and Christchurch. That is, the bulk of interisland vehicle travel undertaken directly by sea is more sustainable than a journey by sea between Wellington and Picton followed by a long 340km Picton to Christchurch land journey. The suggested solution is that The Interislander should operate out of Lyttelton from about 2030, leaving Bluebridge to service the Wellington Picton route. If that were to happen, then the Aratere could stay in service until 2030; because the new facilities suited to the new ships – at least the South Island facilities – would not have to be on the same site as Picton's present rail-ship facilities. Last year I wrote to MPs from all five parties, before it was too late to cancel the shipping order for the cancelled iRex project, including the Labour MP for Lyttelton. Only the Green Party bothered to reply to me. And even they were unenthusiastic about the idea of the Interislander shifting to Lyttelton; their lack of interest came across as more a matter of political priority than as an argument about economics or sustainability. Maybe I am stupid, and I simply cannot see the obvious reasons why a shift back to Lyttelton cannot happen. But I really think we should have a national conversation about the restoration of ferry services between Wellington and Lyttelton; and with the current consciousness about the future of rail being a very important stimulus to that conversation. After all, for over 100 years, before 1960, Wellington to Lyttelton was the essential 'main trunk' link between the two islands. The change-around happened around 1960 because the previous Wellington to Picton service had become so run-down that something had to be done about it. And that there just happened to be a relatively new railhead at Picton. After 1960, the Lyttelton service was doomed to fail when it became a one-ship service in 1968, after the tragic demise of the then state-of-the-art Wahine. Why don't we have national conversations anymore? Everything seems to happen as a fait accompli, narratives driven by unimaginative back-office accountants with short time horizons. And mainstream academics and media simply accept this under-democratic state of affairs. We are still suffering from the infrastructure backlog that escalated in the early 1990s when Finance Minister Ruth Richardson forced many of New Zealand's unemployed and underemployed to emigrate, especially to Australia; all in the name of 'fiscal responsibility'. Some of those people who left for Australia just as its banking crisis was unfolding – especially their children – are drifting back to New Zealand in the 2010s and 2020s as '501' deportees (see Product of Australia, Stuff December 2019, and noting in a chart that more than half of the 501s deported to New Zealand from 2015 to 2019 were aged 26 to 40). Those young (mainly) men could have been building New Zealand; instead, too many became criminals in Australia. And the New Zealand economy regressed for the best part of ten years (from 1985), while the rest of the world was progressing. That period is the source of the now-entrenched Australia New Zealand differential in living standards. Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Keith Rankin Political Economist, Scoop Columnist Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s. Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like. Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.
