Fingers crossed for Budget night

Hoping for boost for rail service

One more sleep to go! Check out the Government’s Budget tomorrow, and hopefully as I outlined in my column last week there is a big correction, huge win for the Kā piti Coast rail services.

To recap, GWRC has over the last few years been working on a business case to buy new trains that would replace the rundown Capital Connection, and secure that service’s future with new environmentally sustainable powered trains that will run from Palmerston North to Wellington.

Not only would our bid for government investment save that service for Ō taki, but our bid of $573 million would result in four services in the morning, and four back through at the end of the day.

GWRC committed 10 per cent of the needed investment in our two previous Long Term Plans, as we geared up for the bid to Government to make this investment.

Earlier this week the Government released its first Emissions Reduction Plan which aims to cut emissions out by 2035. Therefore investing in public transport is, as they say, a no brainer. Especially when GWRC’s bid for expanding public transport is primarily focused on growing our fleet of low emission train units.

In my first term I was part of a progressive GWRC council that set ourselves a challenging target of zero carbon emissions by 2030. That’s challenging because as a regional council we control public transport, traditionally a high carbon emitting activity.

To date we are well on target for the goal. This term’s delivery shows we have continued to focus on how we do that, and then actually doing it with signing up for more electric buses, and now this bid to Government for new trains is a continuation of that action.

So it’s one more sleep to go, and fingers and toes crossed, but in the knowledge that GWRC elected representatives and staff have put in a big effort this term to put our very best and realistic case to Government for new trains in the Kā piti Coast district.