Rail freight saved 230,000 tonnes of emissions

Businesses and freight companies choosing to put their goods on rail saved nearly 230,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the last financial year.

KiwiRail’s latest data shows that in the financial year ending June 30, 2024, goods carried on rail reduced transport CO2 emissions by 229,434 tonnes (based on national average emissions factors), compared with the emissions that would have been created carrying those products by trucks.

Rail also avoided a million heavy truck trips, easing road congestion, reducing road maintenance costs and saving 84.7 million litres of fuel.

KiwiRail Chief Customer and Growth Officer Adele Wilson says the latest figures highlight the value of rail to New Zealand.

“Rail is a key part of an integrated national freight transport system. It’s not about rail versus road but the two modes working seamlessly together. One freight train can carry the same amount of freight as 40 trucks - it’s an efficient way to move large quantities of goods over long distances. In a rail context, road plays an essential role in moving freight to and from the rail head.

“As the data shows, rail has a clear role in helping reduce our overall transport emissions and helping New Zealand meet its emission reduction targets.

“The message is that the more we choose rail, the greater the environmental benefits.

“Successive Governments have made significant investments in lifting the standard of the national rail network and KiwiRail is in the process of replacing our ageing locomotives with new low-emission diesel locos.

“As part of our long-term network improvement programme KiwiRail is working hard to be able to provide better service to freight customers and logistics companies needing sustainable, urgent freight transport solutions.  

“These investments will not only reduce rail emissions further but provide the improved reliability that will give logistics companies and other businesses the confidence to make greater use of rail.

“The general economic downturn is affecting all sectors of the freight market but we continue looking for opportunities to work with logistics companies and other customers to grow rail volumes, for the benefit of New Zealand.”

In the last year KiwiRail has:

• Carried beer for Mainfreight on behalf of Matakana’s Sawmill Brewery. Moving their freight to the South Island by rail reduces Sawmill’s transport emissions on the key freight route between Auckland and Christchurch by 60 per cent.
• Worked with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners New Zealand to build a new rail siding at its Mt Wellington (Auckland) factory, which will significantly increase rail capacity for volumes to Palmerston North.
• Connected rail to Tainui Group Holdings’ Ruakura Inland Port, which is seeing thousands of containers moved for Nexus Logistics on behalf of a major retailer.
• Worked with the Wareing Group and Ashburton District Council to connect the new Fairfield Freight Hub near Ashburton. This is a key rail-road hub for Canterbury, enabling rail capacity from the hub to Lyttelton Port to grow from 6,000 to 20,000 containers a year.

ENDS