Here we go again---job cuts at Kiwi rail. After the sad history of cutting and selling from the past, is it any wonder that this organization is facing ‘issues’ yet again. Of course the policies are driven by the Government and we all know how they see things. The image of a huge sharp knife should be added to the national Party logo and permanently embossed because they show little sign of changing their perspective.
We have seen Labour and National stuff around with our national rail carrier. All it has meant is asset stripping, selling off and then claiming that the service no longer meets its goals. If we really want the railways to work for people and business, you don’t keeping chopping its heart out. There are now many areas that are isolated from the rail service as lines have been progressively cut.
Politicians have long sought to make the rail service profitable. What a senseless aim. Our population and typography work against that ideal. Our railways are a service and maybe we can’t make it a ‘golden goose/hen’ but we can use it to lesson our dependency on roads, fossil fuels and the subsequent problems that causes.
I am not a ‘Greenie,’ although a lot of what they say makes sense, but I believe that we have to subsidise our rail service before it disappears altogether, other than in a few cities and one main trunk. No matter how much you cut off the trunk, the rail service will always look a bit like an elephant.
Gone are the days when nearly every town was within hearing the whistle of the trains as they chugged their ways up, down and sometimes across the New Zealand landscape. Gone or going are so many secondary lines. Are we going to regret the demise of our once proud system, profitable or not?
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