Passenger Rail

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Not set out on their website.

• Put rail and road access costs on a level playing field by: ensuring expansion of the rail network is not disadvantaged by the New Zealand Transport Agency funding system; requiring New Zealand Transport Agency to pay rail 'equalisation' payments while there is undercharging for roads; funding maintenance of the core rail network, as well as the state highway network, through New Zealand Transport Agency; and by adjusting Road User Charges to reflect the results of the Surface Costs and Charging Study.
• Encourage heavy freight to be transported by rail and develop 'land port' facilities to minimise heavy truck movements in urban areas and facilitate road-rail log transfer.
• Support integrated electrification of the North Island Main Trunk Line, including suburban services in both Auckland and Wellington.
• Develop a national long-distance rail passenger strategy to ensure rail-based services become available as aviation costs rise due to climate change and the end of cheap oil. (more here)

• Labour‟s buy-back of our railway system and establishment of KiwiRail when wewere last in office presented a real opportunity to build a sustainable nationwide transport network, however that opportunity has been going unanswered by the National government.
• Labour will recapture the momentum we started to ensure railcan play its full part in building a more sustainable New Zealand.We will keep New Zealand‟s rail in public hands. We believe that with our rail system in public ownership, we can make the strategic decisions and investments necessary for rail to succeed. Over time, we will be able to move more freight off our roads and onto rail.
• Labour will invest in maintaining and modernising KiwiRail to ensure it remains aviable and sustainable transport solution.One of the most valuable resources that KiwiRail has is its human capital, includingworkers at the Dunedin Hillside Workshops and the Hutt Railway Workshops in Gracefield. In the future, we must ensure that KiwiRail can bid competitively and produce our own trains and rolling stock to a high standard. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

• Petrol taxes and duties should be spent on reducing the environmental impacts of transportation, eg public transport, rail and shipping freight; and not returned to general fund. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

• Support the continued use and upgrading of commuter buses and rail. (more here)