Freight, in NZ and elsewhere

Mr. Benton, I wonder if you could give a newcomer (to this Forum, anyway) an update on the role of freight service in your country.

I can remember pictures in Trains years ago, which showed a goodly number of freight cars, though rather short by Western standards.

But what I've been able to learn about other island nations, particularly Great Britain and Ireland, suggests that freight traffic has taken a heavy blow due to improvements in the highway network, and the close proximity to a seaport for most industrial customers.

Also, while I know the proximity isn't that close, given their common heritage, does any provision exist for interchange between New Zealand and the Australian continent?

2nd trick op wrote:Mr. Benton, I wonder if you could give a newcomer (to this Forum, anyway) an update on the role of freight service in your country.

I can remember pictures in Trains years ago, which showed a goodly number of freight cars, though rather short by Western standards.

But what I've been able to learn about other island nations, particularly Great Britain and Ireland, suggests that freight traffic has taken a heavy blow due to improvements in the highway network, and the close proximity to a seaport for most industrial customers.

Also, while I know the proximity isn't that close, given their common heritage, does any provision exist for interchange between New Zealand and the Australian continent?

The problem with Britain and Ireland is that gauges are different. In the case of Britain, the loading gauge is narrower and lower than is allowable in mainland Europe. European gauge trains can only reach London via the new Channel Tunnel Rail link - but none have yet done so.
In the case of Ireland the actual rail gauge is wider (as in Victoria and South Australia).

freight here in NZ is reasonably healthy . its actually increased over the last 20 years .mainly coal , dairy products , and containers .
as far as general frieght goes , its probably dropped over the same period . you have to remember its a country the size of britain , with 4 million people .
however it also relies on exports of primary products for most its foriegn earnings . (tourisim is the 2nd biggest earner after dairy i believe ) . most dairy factories are not at the main ports , therefore large qauntities have to be transported to the ports , and rail seems to have won the bulk of that traffic . over some quite short distances , the main north island dairy factory is only 130 km from the port .
coal traffic is mostly for export , although there is also some imported and railed to a power station .
forestry has been pretty steady , but there are lots of forests maturing in areas with a rail line and bad roads , which may increase over the next few years .
The current govt wants to increase the use of rail freight , it brought the lines back , but the operations and equipment are still owned by an australian company , Toll . the have not been able to come to agreement with the govt over access charges , and the latest is that the govt wants to buy the company out as well . what they will do then will be interesting , either operate it as a govt owned company , or openm the whole thing up to free access . but its generally recognised that nz is not big enough to support more than one operator .

As far as interchange with Australia , theres surprisingly little . hardly any of our rolling sotck or locomotives were built there .
it would eb possible to have a ferry between the 2 countries , but its hard to imagine rail getting that traffic , rather than road . Most of Australias population lives in the main cities , all of which are ports .

As far as interchange with Australia , theres surprisingly little . hardly any of our rolling sotck or locomotives were built there .
it would be possible to have a ferry between the 2 countries , but it's hard to imagine rail getting that traffic , rather than road . Most of Australia's population lives in the main cities , all of which are ports .

Also NZ uses Cape Gauge (3ft 6) whereas Australia's main freight is on standard gauge. A train ferry is only useful over rather short distances, such as from Britain to the mainland - before the tunnel.
But didn't you say that Perth's ropy old suburban trains are now in Auckland?

they are george , been refurbished and doing quite well . noisy though , we also have ex queensland surbuban carriages in auckland , known as the zigzag cars as theyre owned bt the zigzag HISTORICAl railway .
these are relatively recent aqquistions though .
The term ferry is probably wrong , more likely a roll on roll off type operation . for rail use it would have to go to Brisbane , and there would be little market for it there .At the moment it takes a couple of weeks to get freight from sydney to auckland . as air freight becomes more expensive i would expect demand for a faster shipping service to build up .