Green Party announces plan for passenger rail between major NZ cities

The Green Party says it will connect the country with intercity passenger rail services, if elected.The party has announced plans to introduce an overnight rail service between Auckland and Wellington, passenger rail between Christchurch and Dunedin, and to extend the Te Huia train route to Tauranga."Where public transport has been invested in, it's well used, saving people time and money every day. But for a lot of New Zealand, public transport options remain expensive and infrequent, especially when travelling long distances," Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said."We want to connect our cities and our country with alternative ways to travel that will save people money, connect our communities and give New Zealanders real transport choices.""Aotearoa was once connected by a reliable passenger rail system, with fast, frequent services linking communities across the country. But the privatisation of the rail network led to the sale of our assets for private profit and was returned to the people in disarray."Now, our aging rail infrastructure is suffering from a generation of underinvestment, leaving the rail network in a state of decline with cancellations, delays and bus replacements."We should restore these systems so we can have an efficient, comfortable and affordable alternative to experience our country."Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe SwarbrickTess Brunton / RNZGreen Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the tracks were already there, so should be used."Restoring commuter rail will give smaller regions and towns the benefits of more travellers stopping at their town stations, creating more economic opportunities and connecting them to main centres and other towns."There were compelling reasons to back the services the party had set out, she said."The train journey from Auckland to Wellington is long, which makes it perfect for an overnight service. All that is needed is new, comfortable sleeper trains and operating funding."Extending Te Huia to Tauranga would connect one of NZ's fastest-growing regions. All it needs is some station, tunnel and track upgrades to give the region an affordable alternative to driving."With KiwiRail already undertaking significant work on the Christchurch to Dunedin track, extending it to passenger rail would only take building stations and some upgrades, making better use of existing rail infrastructure," she added.Peters: 'Our job is to make sure it's viable'New Zealand First leader Winston Peters was not opposed to the idea of a sleeper train between Auckland and Wellington.Peters, who has been the Minister for Rail in the coalition government, said his party did not rule out any idea - it just made sure "we can stand it up practically first"."There's nothing new about the idea, that's been around for over 100 years," he said.Regional rail had operated in the past but had ended up shut down, he said."That's the point. Our job is to make sure it's viable."I'm not saying I'm opposed to supporting anything until I've done the work on it, done the analysis, because the Greens will announce 1000 announcements, but as for the business case, they wouldn't know what the expression means."Rail was run down when he came back into office in 2023, he said."We turned this around for the second time."But at least we've got an acceptance in the business community at last that rail is critical for our future."Luxon says proposal won't workNational leader Christopher Luxon did not want taxpayer funding going into a "white elephant" that was not commercially viable."Where it makes sense that's really good but you need a concentration of population to make passenger rail work."Of course we're very committed to our 17 roads of national significance and we make no apology for that."There would be six of those projects under way early in 2027, Luxon said.