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Last Monday, the government announced that it will buy back the railways for $665 million. That sale includes the inter-island ferries that sail between Picton and Wellington. We have to say buy “back” because the government used to own the railways but sold it in 1993 for $328.3 million. 25 years ago, New Zealand rail was losing a million dollars a day so the government turned it into a State Owned Enterprise which means a business owned by the government. However, it still lost money. Then the government sold the railways to a private company. Ten years later they sold it to an Australian company Toll Holdings. When this company was having trouble making a profit, the government gave Toll Holdings $75.8 million to help keep the railways going. However, the company closed down many lines, like the Southerner which was the train from Christchurch to Invercargill.

Times have changed and the government is trying to improve public transport and at the same time cut down on heavy trucks using the roads. Heavy trucks cause many problems: they use oil, they make pollution, they put more carbon dioxide into the air, they damage roads and they add to the traffic problems. More trucks means more roads are needed. If the railways carried more goods, there would be fewer trucks on the highways.

There are now only 3 main passenger train lines between cities in New Zealand. In the North Island, there is only the train between Auckland and Wellington, and Toll Holdings tried to close that line. In the South Island there is the train between Christchurch and Picton which connects with the ferry, and the Tranz Alpine between Christchurch and Greymouth. This is aimed at tourists who want to see the mountains in the Southern Alps. The trip is very expensive and not many local people use this service. In the recent past, there were trains to smaller cities in the North Island like Napier, Gisborne, Tauranga and New Plymouth and maybe in the future these trains will run again.

One of the problems with the railways is the narrow gauge, (the distance between the tracks) which is only 3 foot 6 inches (1067mm), unlike trains in Europe and the USA which have a much wider gauge. Our narrow gauge means that our trains are quite slow. The trip from Auckland to Wellington takes about 12 hours.

Another problem is our small population and our love affair with the car. That might change in the future with higher petrol prices.