Down at the Station

摘要

Standing on the platform with notebook and pen in hand, Graeme Carter has observed the following. Also on the platform were Ken Haydock, Bryan Blanchard, Blair Jordan, Cran Julian, Basil Hutchinson, Mark Denne, Dave Turner and Rob Merrifield. KiwiRail announced at the end of August its financial results for the year ending 30 June 2014. The company made a loss of $248 million, compared with a loss of $174 million the previous year. Net operating profit fell 28 per cent to $77.5m on flat operating revenues of $723m. Operating revenues and operating profit were down on the company's targets by $41 m and $43m respectively. Freight revenue was down 0.4 per cent to $462m, and Interislander revenue fell $9.2m, or 6.2 per cent, to $116.6m. A major contributor to the fall in profits included Aratere losing a propeller in November, the chartering of a replacement vessel, the grounding of the DL locomotive fleet in March due to asbestos contamination issues, and a decline in some rail freight traffic, notably coal and forestry. TranzMetro revenue rose 4.9 per cent to $52.6 million and Scenic Journeys services rose 4.8 per cent to $21million.