KiwiRail upsetting its neighbours
Frustrated residents bordering the rail corridor in Christchurch have labelled KiwiRail’s review of lease agreements a ‘‘money-making exercise’’, and question how a piece of paper will keep them safe from a train.
KiwiRail recently announced a scheme to charge an annual fee to landowners encroaching into the rail corridor, currently targeting about 50 Christchurch properties.
Fences, sheds and gardens have gradually crept over boundary lines and on to the 18,000 hectares of land KiwiRail owns nationally. The company said it needed to understand what residents were doing on its land to make sure everyone was safe.
Those found to be using KiwiRail land would now be required to sign a licence to occupy agreement, costing $350 plus GST annually, or must cease using the land.
The fee has an annual fixed increase of 2 per cent.
The proposal has upset Christchurch residents who have been maintaining railway land for years and find KiwiRail’s proposal to be unneighbourly.
A meeting was held at the Heathcote Community Sports Club last week, attended by about 20 affected residents. Labour MP Ruth Dyson has written a letter to KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy based on issues raised at the meeting.
Christine and Jonathan Hope say they plan not to pay the lease fee based on principle.
The couple have received a letter saying 345 square metres of their 2500sqm property encroaches on the rail corridor – all of which is bare grass they mow but don’t use.
Christine Hope said they maintained the strip because it would be a fire hazard if the grass was allowed to grow.
She said in other places where adjacent landowners did not do maintenance, grass up to three feet high was growing, which was a ‘‘real fire danger’’ in summer.
‘‘[KiwiRail’s] record for keeping their side of the railway tracks tidy is non-existent. They just let it go.’’
In the past, sparks from trains have caused fires over wide areas. In 2016, a train caused 12 fires along a 5-kilometre section of track near Kirwee, west of Christchurch.
In 2012, a coal train travelling between Christchurch and Lyttelton caused several fires along a 5km section of track.
Hope queried KiwiRail’s safety concerns, questioning how having a piece of paper saying they were allowed on the land would keep them safe from trains.
‘‘To me it’s a money-making exercise. They want us to purchase the right to occupy, and quite frankly I can’t see how that will alter the safety of anyone mowing or maintaining that piece of land.’’
Hope said the letter from KiwiRail was ‘‘very officious’’ and ‘‘not the sort of thing you would expect a neighbour to send you’’.
KiwiRail group general manager asset manager and investment David Gordon said it appreciated the work some residents had undertaken on its land, but it did not affect the ownership of the land.
‘‘Regardless of whether it is KiwiRail’s, or another landowner, it’s common sense that you need permission to use their land.’’
He said the corridor was maintained up to rail standards, and vegetation was removed based on safety issues including fire risk. If residents thought there was a fire risk or other vegetation issues in the corridor, they should report them to KiwiRail directly.
Gordon said the initiative was about ‘‘good business practice’’.
‘‘KiwiRail’s priority is the safety of everyone around the network.
‘‘To ensure everyone is safe we need to know who is using rail land and for what purposes. The only way to ensure this is through formal agreements.’’