Tranz Rail raises hand in supertruck debate

The freight operator says it is important for people to know rail has the capacity to cope with significantly higher demand to move freight around New Zealand.

Rail services GM, Noel Coom, says there is no need for the public of New Zealand to have to compete with even more trucks on the road when Tranz Rail has the infrastructure in place to cater for the country's freight needs.

"The only potential restriction on capacity is with our inter-island link but as we can move the equivalent of 400, twenty foot containers a day between the North and South Islands, this is rarely challenged."

Mr Coom says New Zealand should look at what is happening in America where there is growing concern over the introduction of longer combination vehicles.

"Research there shows that a single 'super' truck has the same impact on highway congestion and traffic delay as 10 to 12 automobiles."

Mr Coom says statistics certainly show that rail offers not only an environmentally friendly service but also a safe one.

"Last year, regrettably three people died as a result of rail level crossing accidents and a further 11 people were injured. 76 people died in truck related crashes and 536 people were injured."

Tranz Rail is staking its future as a freight operator, having decided to close or sell its passenger services.

The Green Party this week called on the Government to reject a proposal to increase the size of trucks allowed on the country's roads and instead to move more freight by rail.

It's reported that under a Land Transport Authority proposal due to be outlined next week the maximum length of trucks could be increased by five metres and the weight pushed up nearly 50% to 62 tonnes.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Daily ShareChat: Toll Holdings