Economic
KiwiRail plays a critical role in sustainably growing the prosperity of New Zealand and in boosting regional economies.
We carry around 12 percent of all freight and 25 percent of all exports, connecting Kiwi businesses around the country and to the world.
Rail contributes $1.7 - $2.1 billion in often unseen benefits to the New Zealand economy each year through reducing congestion by taking vehicles off our roads, reducing greenhouse gas and air pollution, improving road safety including fewer injuries and fatalities as well as lower road maintenance costs for taxpayers and fuel savings. You can read more about the Value of Rail to New Zealand here.
KiwiRail is also one of the country’s largest tourism operators through our Great Journeys of New Zealand services which provide connected journeys and tourism experiences in regional towns and our major cities.
Regional benefits
Rail benefits regional New Zealand, increasing productivity and creating jobs by delivering goods to people and ports, taking freight off regional roads and bringing tourists to towns and cities.
KiwiRail has a number of initiatives underway to support and rejuvenate rail in regional New Zealand including:
- Upgrading the Northland Line so it can take modern locomotives and heavier wagons, and re-opening the section from Whangarei - Otiria
- Redevelopment of Dunedin’s Hillside Workshops, including a new wagon assembly facility, which will create new jobs and improve the resilience of rail in the South Island
- Reopening the Napier-Wairoa line improving efficiency for logging companies and taking large trucks off local roads
- Design of a regional freight hub near Palmerston North, supporting economic development in the Manawatu
- Renewal of the Wairarapa line to improve reliability and increase capacity to carry commuters and freight.