TRANSPORTATION of goods via freight rail saved nearly 230,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the 2023-24 financial year, according to KiwiRail.
New Zealand’s state-owned rail operator said the save in emissions was a result of businesses and freight companies choosing to transport their goods via rail, compared with the emissions that would have been created carrying those products by trucks.
Rail transport also resulted in avoiding a million heavy truck trips, easing road congestion, reducing road maintenance costs, and saving 84.7 million litres of fuel, the rail operator says.
KiwiRail chief customer and growth officer Adele Wilson says the latest figures highlight the value of rail to New Zealand.
“Rail is a key part of an integrated national freight transport system. It’s not about rail versus road but the two modes working seamlessly together,” Wilson said.
“One freight train can carry the same amount of freight as 40 trucks – it’s an efficient way to move large quantities of goods over long distances. In a rail context, road plays an essential role in moving freight to and from the rail head.
“As the data shows, rail has a clear role in helping reduce our overall transport emissions and helping New Zealand meet its emission reduction targets.”
Wilson said successive Governments have made significant investments in lifting the standard of the national rail network, and that KiwiRail is in the process of replacing its ageing locomotives with new low-emission diesel locomotives.
“These investments will not only reduce rail emissions further but provide the improved reliability that will give logistics companies and other businesses the confidence to make greater use of rail.
“The general economic downturn is affecting all sectors of the freight market but we continue looking for opportunities to work with logistics companies and other customers to grow rail volumes, for the benefit of New Zealand.
“The message is that the more we choose rail, the greater the environmental benefits.”
In the previous year, KiwiRail said it worked with the Wareing Group and Ashburton District Council to connect the new Fairfield Freight Hub near Ashburton, which is a key rail-road hub for Canterbury, enabling rail capacity from the hub to Lyttelton Port to grow from 6,000 to 20,000 containers a year according to the rail operator.
