I’ve been a rail fan as long as I can remember.
When I was a
young boy I used to stay at my nana’s house that backed onto the railway yard
in Marton. Back in the 1980’s Marton station was a very busy place. As it was a
junction, there was always something going on.
Holidays spent in the Hawkes Bay would have me swimming in
the Esk River, reading my grandfathers New Zealand Railway Observers cover to
cover, over and over and watching trains working their way through the Esk
Valley.
As I got older I would cover hundreds of kilometres on my
trusty Morrison Sidewinder push bike following the North Island Main Trunk and
the Marton – New Plymouth Line. When I got my first car, hundreds of kilometres
became thousands as I chased trains across the North Island.
Study, work, family. All these things put rail fanning on
the back burner but when I got the chance I would still head out the door to
chase New Zealand’s aging GE and EMD locomotives across the countryside. I
loved it.
I had some great times and being a rail fan was good fun.
But something’s changed...
I don’t know if it’s an age thing but chasing trains just
doesn’t do it for me anymore. I would spend hours following local lines looking
for a train but now, I don’t even bother looking. Even if I see a train on my
daily travels, its ‘oh look’, but the fun has gone.
I’ve thought about how I’ve reached this point. I can tell
you now, it’s not because I’m bored of the locomotives, the wagons or carriages.
I’m not sick of looking at stations, yards, loops, sidings, bridges, tunnels or
crossings. Nor is it the railway staff. I can’t remember ever having a bad
experience with the men and women that run our railway.
The answer is politics. Politics have ruined it for me.
Two recent news stories were what did it for me. The first
was Kiwirail announcing that they are seriously looking at retiring the EF
class electric locomotives and removing the overhead between Palmerston North and
Hamilton. Being a North Island lad I’ve grown up with the EF’s and seeing them
retire would be like losing a little bit of my childhood.
The Minister of Transport gave the same cop out answer that
all government ministers seem to use today - “It’s an operational matter for
the organisation” and “No final decision has been made”. What a load of crap!
It’s obvious that the Government is telling the Kiwirail
board which is made up of National Party appointees what they want and the
board in turn gives the orders to Kiwirail.
As a state owned enterprise, it is in the Governments best
interests to support Kiwirail but instead they work against New Zealand’s rail
transport provider. As an example look at the introduction of High Productivity
Motor Vehicles (HPMV’s) to our roading network. This is a direct attack on the
main selling point for rail – the ability to haul a large amount of freight
long distances cheaply. Also, I’m no accountant but I’m pretty sure that the
road user charges the owners of these vehicles pay wouldn’t cover the
additional damage they do to our roads.
The National government responds that they support rail and have
invested $4.6 billion in the rail network. I’m sorry; who flogged it off to
their mates in the early 1990’s who then stripped it to the bare bones and left
a broken system. Yes the New Zealand taxpayer has had to pay $4.6 billion to
fix a rail network your mates deliberately wrecked to get rich off.
At the end of the day, the current government has given
Kiwirail unrealistic goals to achieve, actively works to help the competition
and then expresses its ‘disappointment’ when Kiwirail doesn’t get there. At
least give them a chance.
The second news story was of the Chinese workers brought to
New Zealand to remove asbestos from the DL locomotives that shouldn’t have been
there in the first place.
Turns out these poor guys are working for $3 an hour.
Kiwirail staff are even bringing them food. Now the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment has investigated and found no issues. Even the
Minister of Employment Relations has come out and said he was “very happy with
the circumstances” and that the “allegations had been disproved”. He was happy
to say this even though MBIE has admitted that the Chinese locomotive company
CNR and the Chinese workers would not provide wage information to them.
Remember also that it was this government that introduced legislation that
allowed zero hour contracts and the removal of tea breaks.
And that’s why I’m disillusioned. Politics have wrecked rail
fanning for me.
