Letters to the Editor

摘要

I do not believe that the reopening of Hillside Workshops was a political one. It was a courageous and sensible step. Closing Hillside was a political move as it was all part of the previous government's policy of downgrading and downsizing KiwiRail. Also, Fonterra and Federated Farmers wanted us to buy more from China so they could sell their products there. Hillside was in the process of building mainline carriages and container wagons. This order was cut back, leaving us short of carriages. The jigs to build the new carriages were also destroyed, making it difficult to resume the programme. The Ministry of Transport is notoriously anti-rail so its recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. Were the officials that advised the government not to reopen Hillside not the same ones who advised the previous government to buy Chinese locomotives and wagons? Perhaps it was the same advisors who recommended secondhand, unreliable Cook Strait ferries, rather than modern ferries with rail decks. They were good at saving money on rail expenditure but had unlimited taxpayer money to build highways for their trucking mates.