Imagine your friend has exclusive right to distribute a product that could save dozens of lives each year. The product also significantly reduces carbon emissions. But rather than making this product widely available at a modest price, your friend has chosen a price few people can afford. To make it even more exclusive, they only let people use it three days a week.
KiwiRail’s decisions around passenger rail are essentially like this. The role of the state owned enterprise is simply to make as much money as possible from rail – its potential to save lives apparently doesn’t count. That means nearly all its rail routes are branded as ‘Great Journeys New Zealand’ and marketed towards tourists. But why do we accept treating critical national infrastructure like a long, posh roller coaster?
