Train commuters and businesses moving goods around the country will see more reliable rail services, thanks to the Government’s investment of $604.6 million for rail upgrades and renewals through Budget 2025, Rail Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Chris Bishop say. 

“The funding provides $461 million to maintain and renew the rail freight network, and $143.6 million to replace and upgrade the Auckland and Wellington metropolitan rail networks, and will deliver a more productive, efficient and reliable rail network that supports economic growth and productivity,” Mr Peters says. 

“We want railways to succeed for this country – rail freight backs our business, and business backs our cities and provinces.

“Rail currently moves 13 per cent of national freight and a quarter of New Zealand’s exports, complementing our road freighters’ short-hauls by doing the heavy-haul weights, the long-distance runs, and being the efficient clearing house so coastal ports can handle more export ships.

“The Rail Network Investment Programme for 2024-2027 is now funded, meaning maintenance, network operations, asset renewals and modest improvements are funded.

“This programme replaces decades’ old bridges, culverts, and other assets with infrastructure to last for generations to come, and provides the bedrock for growth by the commercially-funded freight operations to move our goods.

“We have a legacy for rail freight and this builds on it. The Northland line is upgraded from Swanson to Whangārei, new locomotives and shunts are arriving, new wagons are serving customers and more are being assembled in Dunedin, and rail ferries are being secured on the Strait,” says Mr Peters.