Concerns new Cook Strait ferries won't be rail capable

• Lobby groups and unions are calling on the government to ensure new inter-island ferries are rail capable
• A decision is yet to be made by the government on the purchase of new ferries, after it cancelled the previous contract for two new vessels in December over budget concerns
• Research shows rail freight is more efficient than road freight in New Zealand and reduces heavy traffic on our roads

A rail advocacy group is holding meetings in Marlborough this weekend, over concerns the new Cook Strait ferries will not be designed to carry railway vehicles.

The coalition government cancelled the exisiting contract for two new ferries last December after the budget blew out to nearly $3 million.

It has considered buying smaller ferries that are not rail enabled, or second-hand vessels, but has not yet made a decision.

Sustainable transport researcher Paul Callister said the issue was particularly significant to Marlborough and the community needed to be involved in decisions.

Community group The Future Is Rail would hold public meetings in Blenheim and Picton on Saturday to discuss the future of rail and ferry services in Marlborough.

"We are really worried as a group that the decision is going to be made in the next month or so about the replacement ferries and we are hoping that they are going to be rail enabled, they have been rail enabled for decades and they are a key part of the whole rail network.

"Without the link across the Cook Strait, the whole South Island's rail network is at risk."

Callister said the loss of rail-capable ferries would mean an increase in road freight, and more trucks on the roads.

"Picton is in limbo at the moment and the government really has to make a decision where we have got better ferries, ferries that don't break down in the middle of the Cook Strait or run aground, but we also want ferries that carry freight in the most efficient way."

Marlborough Chamber of Commerce interim chief executive Stephen Walker said the organisation wanted to see rail capacity retained on the new ferries.

"We do understand the way that the government is going is [the ferries] are not going to be rail enabled, they will be able to take trucks, trucking units and containers and they will also be smaller ferries so they won't carry as much freight or as many passengers."

He said the region would see an increase in freight costs if there was less rail freight across the strait.

"Rail is really important to get our export orders out of Marlborough but it is also very important to get all of the goods we need into Marlborough and into the top of the south where it is distributed by transport companies right out to the West Coast."

Patricio Gallardo of Canterbury University's Electric Power Engineering Centre said research had proven rail was more efficient than road freight.

"When we looked at carbon intensity, measured as tonnes of CO2 per tonne-kilometre of activity, we found that road transport emits almost four times more than rail and when we factor in embedded emissions, the difference remains significant with road freight still producing 2.7 times the emissions of rail."

But a significant shift from road to rail freight would result in increased infrastructure costs.

"There is an ongoing debate about the investment in terminals and ferry infrastructure so when you consider investment in multi-model infrastructure, resilience is becoming increasingly important especially given the uncertainty in global fuel supply, so I believe it is critical to have alternative freight networks that can withstand potential disruptions."

Mainfreight chief executive Don Braid told the NZ Herald the company was a signifcant user of rail throughout the country and was unsettled by the "fiasco" around the future of the Cook Strait rail ferry services.

He did not believe the government's plans for the ferries would include rail-served vessels and estimated the loss of rail services between the North and South Islands would result in Mainfreight adding 5700 more truck and trailer journeys a year.

A new report from EY showed that rail created $3.3 billion worth of value to New Zealand, with $1.5b in time and congestion savings for road users because rail carried freight and passengers that would otherwise clog roads.

It found there would also be $226m in reduced fuel costs to the country compared to moving freight and people by road, with $161m in safety savings, through fewer deaths and injuries from road crashes.

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union said taking rail off the strait would be economic sabotage.

Union general secretary Todd Valster said since the 1960s, freight had been able to travel the length of the country and across the Cook Strait without disruption.

"There is a concern that if they are not rail-enabled ferries then basically the main trunk line from Auckland to Christchurch could actually be at risk because it may not be economic to keep putting containers off trailers and back onto trains.

"People who want to get their goods moved might just say 'just drive it all the way from Picton to Christchurch, don't worry about putting it back on a train.'"

He said there was also rail machinery that needed to travel between Picton and Wellington.

"It would potentially have to go on a ship which would be incredibly costly, we have locomotives, track, sleepers, machines that fix the tracks like ballast cleaners and tampers that go between the islands as required and in effect it will turn New Zealand into two separate railways."

Ministers Nicola Willis and Paul Goldsmith said they were still reviewing recommendations from the independent ferry service advisory group, with Cabinet to then consider the next steps.