The ARA has met with officials from the New Zealand Ministry of Transport to discuss the ARA’s recently released research report, The Benefit of Rail to New Zealand, as part of our continued focus on strengthening engagement with New Zealand stakeholders and lifting the profile of rail.
Chris Money, partner, EY, provided expert technical input to the discussions on the report, which was developed in partnership with EY.
Money provided an in-depth explanation around the methodology and findings of the report, with an emphasis on the report’s purpose of establishing a new baseline understanding of the economic and social benefit that rail provides New Zealand.
It was noted that there may be opportunities for further collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders to develop expanded updates to the report or complementary research on more targeted issues.
The ARA has offered to collaborate with the Ministry of Transport to provide any underpinning modelling and analysis from the report that may be useful for informing separate discussions around potential investment in the rail network across New Zealand.
The report details the considerable benefits to the New Zealand economy that rail delivers including:
• $1.53 billion – reduced travel time and road congestion
• $291 million – less adverse health effects
• $267 million – lower fuel and maintenance costs
• $161 million – less crashes, deaths, and serious injuries
• $36 million – less domestic greenhouse gas emissions
Rail saves travellers 8.8 million hours and 10.3 million hours of driving annually in Auckland and Wellington respectively, and results in eight less road fatalities each year. This results from 23 million passenger journeys and 17 million tonnes of freight being moved by rail each year.
Rail also reduces fossil fuel consumption by almost 150 million litres per year, taking 2,000 fuel tankers off the road and saving $195 million.
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