Petition To Bring Back The Southerner Passenger Train Launched
A petition has been launched in the South Island calling for the restoration of The Southerner regular passenger train, running from Christchurch to Invercargill, via Dunedin.
The passenger rail service would also stop at key towns and cities such as Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Balclutha and Gore, and possibly other stops such as Temuka, Palmerston, Mosgiel (for bus connections to Dunedin Airport) and Milton, should demand warrant.
The petition will be presented to a cross-Party group of South Island MPs at Parliament in early July, and calls on the 'House of Representatives [to] urge the Government to restore The Southerner Train, from Invercargill, via Dunedin to Christchurch, as a regular public transport service, supporting South Island towns and cities along the route'
Save Our Trains Southern spokesperson Dave Macpherson said 'there are 750,000 New Zealanders living along the rail route between Christchurch and Invercargill who are starved of reasonable public transport links between their communities.'
'Rail is a preferred choice of travel for large numbers of them, judging by the very positive early reaction we are getting to our petition out in the streets and on the airwaves. We are starting to collect signatures in the streets of Oamaru, Dunedin, Balclutha and Milton already, and are adding volunteers for that task in Invercargiull, Ashburton, Christchurch, Gore and Timaru.'
'We have today launched the petition online as well, and are making that available to people around the country.' [see Petition link: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/restore-the-southerner-train ]
Mr Macpherson said 'we are being told by tertiary students, retired people, families, businesspeople, and especially disabled people that rail will provide them affordable, safe and comfortable links to friends, relatives, study and work activities that are not well served - if at all - by expensive airliinks, unsafe car journeys and slow, uncomfortable private coach links.'
'The North Island already has three Government-supported long distance rail links, but the South Island has nothing. It is about time that this part of NZ Inc. received some transport support.'
He pointed out that, 'unlike new highways, the rail route is already in place; the Hillside (Dunedin) and Waltham (Christchurch) KiwiRail workshops are in place to support passenger rail services, rail-enabled ferries are being bought, and tourist trains in the South Island are a roaring success. Everything points to passenger rail being successful in the South Island.'
"Local people need passenger trains providing affordable local services.'
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