Railway is too special to consign to history
IT is imperative that the Dunedin Railways operation is saved in its original form prior to the unwarranted shutdown on March 23.
A limited service could now be operating on the Taieri Gorge line. New Zealanders are keen to travel in their own country. This is evident with the KiwiRailoperated TranzAlpine Express attracting amazing loadings, as is the case with other visitor operations throughout the country.
It is to be hoped that the DCC will negotiate in good faith with any business that may come along and sell the operation intact and not piecemeal as indicated in recent publicity.
In this way, this iconic operation will be saved for future generations and respect the input put in by so many who founded the Otago Excursion Train Trust.
Having been part of that organisation both as a volunteer and a contracted train manager for the past 34 years, I want to see the operation saved.
So many people came to Dunedin specifically to take that train journey. Will they still come if there is no train?
It is to be hoped that a positive outcome can be negotiated to ensure that this iconic and popular attraction can be resurrected and the skills of so many people who have been involved can be retained. The train would continue to attract people to Dunedin to ride the rails into the spectacular Taieri Gorge and other places particularly in the South Island.
Allan Boyer
Gore
[Abridged]
IS it not ironic that at the same time we mothball our excursion train with a proven success record and all infrastructure still intact, in a mood of doom and despondency that the cruise ships we had grown unhealthily dependent upon are likely now a thing of the past, the people of the Kapiti Coast are reinstating steamtrain excursions with optimism for their enterprise’s future?
The difference, I feel, is that they perceive their glass as half full, and we see ours as half empty as usual.
One way or another, postCovid19 or possibly due to some other agency sent to spare our longsuffering planet from our worst excesses, the world mass tourism bubble was always going to burst.
The Taieri Gorge railway excursion was adjudged a commercial success, long before the cruise ship industry saw our country as an asset to be exploited for its own gain, and with domestic patronage reinstated, I feel it could be that way again.
What do our farmers do when times are tough? They have a rethink and diversify.
Agreed, the days of easy riches for our railway excursion likely lie in the past, but I feel that those who have thrown in the towel on this one might have summoned up a bit of imagination, tried a bit harder, or both. Ian Smith
Waverley
Special landmark
I AM dismayed at the Dunedin City Council’s total lack of respect for the headland of Blackhead. It is diminishing before our eyes.
The new footpath being built to allow safe walking to Tunnel Beach is commendable, as the cliffs are a tourist destination.
Blackhead is also a worldrecognised surf break and pictured proudly at the Dunedin airport. Unfortunately, the headland looks like it will be decimated within a year at the rate that it is being quarried.
It is a travesty not to protect this beautiful geographical landmark before it is no longer.
S. Alderman
Corstorphine