Mainfreight\u2019s chief executive says he is \u201cfrustrated\u201d at KiwiRail and Auckland Transport, and that the agencies could be doing more as the Middle East conflict sends fuel prices up.<\/p>\n
\u2026..<\/p>\n
Don Braid told Morning Report moving freight via rail was more efficient than by truck, \u201cyet we haven\u2019t seen KiwiRail stand up to offer additional services\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re missing in action at the moment, and we would like to see them stand up to help the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026..<\/p>\n
Mainfreight had been speaking to KiwiRail but was failing to get action, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying, but [we\u2019re] frustrated to be perfectly honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said in a statement to RNZ: \u201cKiwiRail is sharply focused on helping New Zealand get through this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working around the clock to save fuel and working with our customers every day, sometimes multiple times a day, to take some of their volume where we have capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already made 100s of containers available, representing 1000s of cubic metres, and are confident we can do more.\u201d<\/p>\n
I agree with Braid that now is exactly the time we should be putting more freight onto trains. It\u2019s good that KiwiRail has added some additional capacity, but I wonder if we\u2019re seeing a couple of issues combining here:<\/p>\n
One of the consequences of decades of trying to force rail to operate as a commercial entity rather than valuing the wider economic impact it provides<\/a> is that KiwiRail probably doesn\u2019t have a lot of capacity just sitting idle that they can turn to, whether that be that locomotives, wagons or staff to operate them.I could be reading it wrong, but the comment from Reidy that they\u2019re \u201cworking around the clock to save fuel\u201d suggests that KiwiRail is focused on managing their own costs \u2013 which is understandable. But I wonder if this is one of the consequences of the current government\u2019s hands-off, let\u2019s-pretend-nothing\u2019s-wrong approach to this fuel crisis. It\u2019s better for NZ as a whole if we shift more freight to rail to move it more efficiently \u2013 but doing so means KiwiRail might have to run more trains, which means their fuel costs would go up. A more hands-on government might require \u2013 or at least assist with \u2013 better industry coordination, so rail can more quickly play a bigger part in mitigating the impacts of fuel supply interruptions.<\/p>\n Braid also has aimed at Auckland Transport, which Mayor Wayne Brown quickly responded to:<\/p>\n Braid said other organisations, like Auckland Transport, also needed to make adjustments to make diesel usage more efficient.<\/p>\n It should reconsider its position on the idea of allowing freight vehicles to use bus lanes, Braid said.<\/p>\n \u201cThink about the amount of diesel idling that goes on because we can\u2019t use a bus lane.<\/p>\n But Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was not fond of the idea, saying it would just cause more congestion.<\/p>\n He told Nine to Noon a better alternative would be to have trucks operating at night.<\/p>\n \u201cGet the trucks on the road at night \u2026 it\u2019s a lot cheaper to pick up a container at night than the daytime,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n He said the warehouse companies were obstructing that change, and that if truck companies passed on their increased fuel costs to the storage companies, they would start opening at night.<\/p>\n Brown said crowded bus lanes were already a problem.<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have trouble with buses crowding themselves \u2026 the buses have to stop, and the next thing will be the truck will be stuck behind the bus idling.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor is right that many of the bus lanes, especially those closest to the city centre, are already very crowded. Solving this \u2018bus sausage\u2019 problem is of course the original reason why light rail was proposed, particularly through the heart of the isthmus.<\/p>\n An example of \u2018bus sausage\u2019 just before 5 pm on a Wednesday at Stop A, Westfield Newmarket (between Mortimer St and Morrow St).<\/p>\n However, even putting that aside, the issue isn\u2019t just the potential for trucks to hold up buses, but the reverse applies too. Adding other vehicles to bus lanes increases the chances that a bus (or truck) will be in a queue such that they will miss the green phase on a traffic light, with knock-on and cumulative delays across everyone\u2019s timetables.<\/p>\n There are also issues for other road users too. Many of our bus lanes are the only place to cycle on the busy arterials that are the most direct route, for example. And it\u2019s not particularly pleasant for people standing waiting for a bus to have even large trucks passing close by, especially at 50kmh which is the speed limit on many of the arterials with bus lanes.<\/p>\n Perhaps an even bigger problem with the suggestion is there simply isn\u2019t much of an overlap between key freight routes and dedicated bus lanes. Below is what Auckland Transport have determined as their Strategic Freight Network:<\/p>\n That said, perhaps there is an opportunity here: not for using existing bus lanes, but for setting up new bus and truck lanes to improve travel through the areas that currently don\u2019t have any bus priority.<\/p>\n The map below shows all current frequent bus routes. As you can see, the existing bus lanes cover only a small proportion of them. So perhaps AT could quickly expand the network of dedicated lanes, firstly to make buses faster and more reliable (especially now a lot more people are seeking to use the bus for daily travels), and let trucks use these new bus lanes too, as a trade-off for quick implementation.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AT-Strategic-Freight-Network.png\")
<\/a>Now compare that to the network of bus and transit lanes:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Akl-Bus-and-Transit-Lanes-Apr-26.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/a>As you can see, other than the state highways, there\u2019s really just not that much cross-over between the two.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AT-Frequent-Buses-April-26.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n