Electric locos

*Disclaimer: all views are entirely personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of Kiwirail, TranzMetro, the RMTU, or any other player in the rail indsutry.*

First of all, thanks to everyone who read my first post about saving the Capital Connection! I'm glad to have some friendly readers :)

I've just finished playing a gig with the Julie Lamb Band at Hotel Bristol for the Cuba Dupa festival, and now I'm eating Midnight Espresso's famous vegan nachoes before I head to another gig with another band, Sophie and the Realistic Expectations, in Roseneath. No rest for the wicked.....

While eating, I opened the Dom Post and saw that the main article on page 2 was about Kiwirail - specifically, their proposal to replace the electric EF class locomotives with dirt cheap Chinese diesel locos instead of replacing or upgrading the EFs. Here's the link to the article:

http://pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-dominion-post/20150328/281517929619606/TextView

RMTU general secretary Wayne Butson was swift to point out the impact this could have on hundreds of jobs, and Labour's Phil Twyford explained how this was a "retrograde step for the environment". Excellent! Both of these people were 100% correct about this. But why is Kiwirail even considering this move when their senior team must have known they would meet these reactions?

There are two reasons: first of all, Kiwirail - like all other SOEs - has a mandate of turning a profit for the Government, and that's it. Rather than being tasked with reducing New Zealand's emissions and reducing road congestion, they are tasked with making money. This is very typical of the era of neo-liberal Government we are currently experiencing: 'reduce your expenditure, increase your profit, what's an externality? Never heard of it!' The other reason is that Kiwirail is being chronically underfunded by the current National Government. Unlike other Tories in the Anglosphere who see the benefits of rail (in Britian, the Tories are even trying to build a white elephant rich man's railway being opposed by none other than the Greens!), National are at the beck and call of the trucking lobby who regularly funnel them donations with the expectation of gold plated highways to nowhere in return. Typical National Party politics, nothing we're not used to.....

Kiwirail's freight service is essential to the efficient movement of goods across New Zealand. Trains are capable of pulling vast amounts more tonnage than trucks, and can do so much more safely. They have their own separate infrastructure, which not only allows movement of freight despite road congestion but also relieves congestion for other road users. Despite these clear benefits, rail is not given the investment it deserves. 

Upgrading and/or replacing the electric locos will be more expensive than buying the dirt cheap Chinese locos, but there's a reason for that - electric locos are high quality, clean, and efficient, whereas cheap Chinese diesel locos are dirty and of less quality. Investing in world class electric locos would require a higher upfront cost, but would be very beneficial to the nation by reducing our fossil fuel import bill, reducing carbon emissions, and from running on cheap NZ made renewable electricity. A Government that cared about climate change, air pollution, and reducing our oil addiction would see this and offer to get the locos for Kiwirail. 

Kiwirail group general manager Iain Hill made a good point in the article: "...electrification only covers one-tenth of the rail freight network, and journeys between Auckland and Wellington require two locomotive changes..." He is absolutely correct, but his response to these facts is wrong. Rather than using those facts as justification for more dirty diesel locos, Kiwirail should be advocating for a complete electrification of the rail network, starting with the unfinished areas between Auckland-Hamilton and Palmerston North-Wellington. Unfortunately, he has no mandate to do this. His job is to help Kiwirail make money for the Government, and not to consider the externalities and consequences of these kinds of decisions. Labour Transport Spokesman Phil Twyford was able to offer the necessary words though: "...To de-electrify a critically important part of the network would be turning the clock back to the 19th century. If this is being done at the behest of bean-counters, it is really a hare-brained scheme." I couldn't agree more. 

So what needs to change here? Ideally Kiwirail would be considering more than just their bottom line, but due to Government policy and continual underfunding they have no mandate to. That leaves the National Government with the task of defending the climate, our air quality, and our huge oil import bill against this decision. Bugger.