$250k rail study ‘fails tourism’
A $250,000 Government-funded study into reopening a Taranaki rail route for logging should have been matched with an investigation into its tourism potential, the boss of an award-winning tour company says.
Ian Balme, whose Forgotten World Adventures takes visitors in golf carts along the old railway through isolated Whangamo¯mona, said tourism offered more economic opportunities for the region than logging.
Since April, KiwiRail has been carrying out a feasibility study into transporting logs from Te Wera Forest to Port Taranaki using the abandoned Stratford to O¯ kahukura line.
But Balme said the money could have been used to investigate the benefits of a proposed cycleway alongside the 117-yearold rail line between O¯ hura and Whangamo¯ mona.
‘‘The Government gave $250,000 to KiwiRail to look at putting logs on trains to Port Taranaki from Te Wera,’’ Balme said. ‘‘In reality they should have given the same amount to our company because a cycleway would have the best long-term economic benefit for Stratford and Taumarunui communities.’’
Forgotten World Adventures and KiwiRail had met to discuss the feasibility study, he said.
Balme’s company operates along 142km of the historic rail line between Taumarunui and Stratford, with stopovers.
Balme said he had built Forgotten World Adventures from scratch using his own money and without Government assistance.
The success of the six-year-old company had been recognised in the 2018 NZ Tourism Awards when it was chosen as the People’s Choice award winner.
Forgotten World Adventures has a 30-year lease with KiwiRail to use the line, with a one-year out clause if KiwiRail wanted to re-establish a commercial rail link.
Balme said putting logs back on the line would have a small impact on his business but the real discussion should be around creating more tourism opportunities.
‘‘One or two log trains a week will not have a huge impact on us because the trains will be only using the bottom end of the line from Te Wera to Stratford, and New Plymouth,’’ he said.
‘‘We have proved to be an incredibly successful company without government subsidies and we haven’t been provided with any funding to do our own economic benefit study for a cycleway.
Balme said the economic benefit from a two-day cycle ride, about the same length as the Otago Rail Trail, between O¯ hura and Whangamo¯ mona, would be huge for Stratford and Taumarunui communities.
‘‘It would also provide an important connection for tourists between Taranaki and the central North Island.’’
In a written statement KiwiRail Group commercial general manager Alan Piper said the feasibility study was looking at a range of options to assess demand for transporting export logs to Port Taranaki.
The assessment was still in the early stages, and KiwiRail had met with stakeholders, including the Taranaki Regional Council, Port Taranaki and the forestry industry, he said.
‘‘We expect the first report to be supplied to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment by the end of the year.’’