Railnews December 1985

This Christmas edition of RailNews (the in-house NZ Railways Corporation newspaper) was a "bumper issue" covering the ongoing process of restructuring, along with new investments and growth in traffic, as well as ample coverage of staff news. Some major points from this edition:

• $20m loss blamed on competition with road freight and the price freeze making it difficult for NZRC to respond.  General Manager Gordon Purdy noted that forecasts that deregulation of land transport would see road operators focus on small lots and not long-haul bulk mainline freight was wrong, with road operators concentrating on long haul and bulk loads.
• New freight service from Whitecraig North Otago to Central Otago using rail and road for vegetables transported to Alexandra markets.
• Opening and development of Smart Road freight yards near New Plymouth. The yards were built at first to provide more capacity for freight and to service the growing commercial area to the east of New Plymouth. Subsequently, all of NZRC's New Plymouth freight operations would be relocated to Smart Road and the New Plymouth Railway Station and freight yard would be closed.
• Public consultation on proposed Sockburn-Styx deviation.. NZRC was opposed to the deviation, because it saw no net commercial benefit in the route.  The Railways Department bought land for the route from the 1950s, it was intended to be a bypass of Christchurch for through traffic.  NZRC preferred a direct northbound link at Addington from the south (which was ultimately built).
• New NZR Road Services passenger and parcels depot is under construction in Cromwell to replace the site to be flooded by the Clyde Dam.
• Construction of bogies for CA class coal wagons at Hillside Workshops.
• Decision soon on transport option for West Coast export coal.  The choice was between rail and a slurry pipeline to offshore at Westport. There was concern if the slurry pipeline option was selected it would jeopardise the future of the Midland rail line.   The report noted that 53% of freight shipped by tonnage on the line from the West Coast was coal.  The line in 1985 received a subsidy of $15.6m.  NZRC's proposal was to change the then coal operation . RailNews noted that at the time, 900 LC class wagons were used to transport coal from the West Coast with a five-six day turnover between Ngakawau and Lyttelton, and 10% of wagons are out of operation at any one time for repairs.  They were to be replaced with 56 CB wagons with only a 26-hour turnaround.  This was a significant improvement in productivity. Rail was eventually chosen for long-term export coal contracts and the subsidy was ended.
• Richard Prebble, Minister of Railways, opened a new Bulls Travel Centre and noting 10 new Volvo coaches would enter service by Christmas (1985).
• GM's Comment noting that if staff do not provide the service customers expect, business and jobs will be lost.
• DSJ shunting locomotives assembled at Addington Workshops with help from Japanese interpreters. Four shunters were assembled from Toshiba parts at Addington, with 40% NZ content. 
• Success in NZRC marketing staff attracting new freight business in Otago, with a particular focus on new traffic in Central Otago.
• NZRC seeking to recapture wool traffic.
• Track and signal alterations at Marton to respond to NIMT electrification, including longer trains
• New publicity campaign at schools along the NIMT to teach safety around electrification

1980s restructuring: Cabinet dispute on EastTown, creative accounting, restructuring success, single person crewing and track maintenance staffing

 This post has a fairly random selection of posts from the 1980s reflecting the period of restructuring...

Dominion 26 June 1986

In 1986 it was clear that Cabinet was about to approve the Railways Corporation closing the East Town Railway Workshops in Wanganui, but this put it at odds with one Cabinet Minister, the then MP for Wanganui, Russell Marshall.  Both Marshall and Railways Minister Richard Prebble had promised before the 1984 election that the workshops would be saved.  However, Prebble also indicated several times after the election that all the workshops could be saved by "rationalising" all the work.  This proved not to be the case, and it was clear by 1986 that five railway workshops could not be retained.  After East Town was closed, Addington would be closed in 1990, and Otahuhu in 1992.  East Town was closed in 1986, but Russell Marshall narrowly retained his electorate in the 1987 election (although he lost over 10% of the vote share). Marshall retired in 1990. 

1 August 1988, 11 May 1989

The 1988 article quoting Victoria University accountancy professor Don Trow questioning Railways Minister Richard Prebble's claim that the reduction in the Railways Corporation's operating loss in 1987 compared to 1986 was "remarkable". Trow noting that the loss reduction was primarily due to a sale in surplus property.  Trow said the Railways Corporation cost taxpayers $269m in that year, consisting of its operating loss, the sale of property and subsidies it received of $69m.

The 1989 reports on then Chief Executive Kevin Hyde presenting at a conference in London about the successes so far of restructuring the Railways Corporation. The presentation noted:

• Since 1982, 45% of Railways staff had been laid off (from 21,600 to 11,900). 
• Freight staff productivity increased by 94%
• Increased train size and moved to single-crewed locomotives
• Staff reductions had been achieved with little industrial strife
• Freight rates reduced by 46% due to competition
• Severance payments to 5,900 staff had cost $175m, but it saved the Corporation the same each year.

The report noted that there would be further staff cuts.

 

In 1987, the Railways Corporation had three staff on most freight trains, with two in the locomotive cab and one in a guard's van.  The article to the left noted that the Railways Corporation had achieved agreement with the relevant union to reduce the locomotive crew from two to one, starting with the electrified North Island Main Trunk, following with all other freight train services. The main measures needed to support it included some cab modifications and improved radio communications on lines.

In 1986 the Railways Corporation was proposing a significant cut in the Way and Works staffing by around a third. 

50 years of Wellington Railway Station

On 15 June 1987 the Evening Post published this advertising feature to commemorate 50 years of Wellington Railway Station. The feature included a history of the railway station, which noted that the new Wellington (and Auckland) Railway Stations would be adequate for a national population of five million (!).  The station replaced several much smaller older wooden buildings which was thoroughly ill-suited to the time.  It has various historic pictures, including depicting the Te Aro line which operated along the waterfront from the site of the existing station along the Quays and terminating roughly where New World Wellington City (Wakefield Street) is now cited, with a station extending up towards the new Convention Centre (the line was closed in 1917 so the current station could be built (and due to complaints about delays caused by trains operating along the road). 

In 1987 the statistics of usage were 45,000 trips per day on 293 trains (105 Paraparaumu, 104 Hutt, 84 Johnsonville with the remainder to the Wairarapa, Gisborne and Auckland). The station had 380 staff, but up to 250 at any one time, with staff on duty from 5.30am-12.15am.  It describes plans for the $500m property development on the site which did not proceed, including a hotel and seven office blocks. 

One article describes how services have changed over the years, from the opening of the Tawa Flat Deviation through to the introduction of the Ganz Mavag electric multiple units in 1982.  It included:

• Electrification of the Johnsonville line in 1938
• Electrification to Paekakariki in 1940
• Electrification to Waterloo in 1953
• Electrification to Melling in 1954
• Electrification to Upper Hutt in 1955 and closure of the Melling-Manor Park line in favour of the extension from Taita
• Introduction of the Silverstar in 1971 (and withdrawal in 1979)
• Introduction of the Silverfern in 1972
• Introduction of the Northerner in 1975

There is also an advertisement for cheap long-distance passenger rail travel and an advertisement for an express bus from the front of the railway station to Wakefield Street at the morning and evening peaks! a service from the Wellington City Transport era.

Railway to Kaitaia? Auckland Station casino, new line inspection vehicle, NIMT electrification switched on, Wellington rail land proposals, Newmarket station development, Carterton...

 This post has a series of fairly random articles from the 1980s on the following topics:

• Mayor of Far North District Council advocating for the railway line from Otiria to Okaihau to be reinstated, and extended to Kaitaia, at an estimated $320m.  Of course this did not proceed, and there are no plans to extend the line past Otiria Junction.
• Proposals from the Railways Corporation to redevelop railway land in Wellington (broadly where the stadium was ultimately built). 
• Property developer's proposal to convert Auckland Railway Station into a casino. This proposal was formalised, but the casino licence for Auckland went to SkyCity and resulted in construction of the Sky Tower.
• Commissioning of the first section of the North Island Main Trunk electrification
• New Suzuki 4WD track inspection vehicles
• Railways Corporation proposes development on land at Newmarket Station (much of that land has been redeveloped)
• Railways Corporation offered to sell Carterton Station to the Carterton District Council

After the closure of East Town workshops, Wanganui

In 1986, the East Town Railway Workshops in Whanganui were closed, as part of a rationalisation programme originally proposed by Booz Allen Hamilton in 1984. That report said the Railways Corporation only needed three out of the five workshops open at the time, and as the only workshops in a regional centre, East Town was doomed.  Below are articles about some of the people affected by the closure of the workshops. At the time, it was seen as a devastating blow to the town.