Logging truck heading to Gisborne port Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
After numerous "close calls" with logging trucks, residents living along the Napier-Taihape Road say it's a huge relief the daily onslaught of speeding heavy trucks has been taken off their narrow and winding road.
Sheep and beef farmer Richard Chrystall farms near the remote rural settlement of Moawhango, on the Taihape side of the road known as the Gentle Annie which weaves over the Kaweka mountain range.
He said a deal getting logs railed from the central north island's Karioi Forest to the Port of Napier couldn't have come soon enough.
Residents celebrated when they heard news of the partnership between the Rangitikei and Hastings District councils, forestry company Ernslaw One, the Napier Port and KiwiRail.
"It's a huge relief. I've got a young daughter who travels to town every day on the Gentle Annie Road and it made us really nervous with the logging trucks on the road," Richard Chrystall said.
"We've got enough sheep trucks on the road at this time of year, stock trucks and fertiliser trucks. It's dangerous with just them on the road. But there were up to 50 odd units of logging trucks a day, it made it really, really dangerous."
Logging trucks had been tearing up the road surface with accidents and near misses since the trucks laden with logs started plying the route two months ago.
Many farmers in the community were concerned about their safety due to the blind corners and the speed of the trucks. Some in the surrounding area on the Taihape side of the road had voiced their concerns to authorities.
The increased risk of accidents had become the talk of the community since the truck and trailer units arrived on the roads after the Winstone Pulp International (WPI) mill near Ohakune closed in December. Heavy log traffic on the road increased markedly because the decision was made to send raw logs by road over the remote highway to Napier.
When the WPI mill at Tangiwai was operational logs were processed into pulp, lumber and timber and railed south to Palmerston North and across to Napier. But raw logs had different loading requirements and trucks were cheaper.
Richard Chrystall said there were a number of close calls and a couple of logging trucks had tipped over on the road in the past two months.
"There were numerous close calls, people were being pushed into drains. Absolutely the trucks were driving far too fast," Chrystall said.
"Some parts of the road the camber is bad so they had to cut the corners, otherwise it was too dangerous for them.
"It's fantastic news, it's really good for the safety of our local community, it sort of destroyed our road and turned it into a mess."
Rangitikei mayor steps in to find a solution
The Napier-Taihape road crosses two districts and is managed by two councils, Rangitikei and Hastings.
Aware the road was deteriorating due to the additional trucks impacting wear and tear, the economics of the situation became an immediate concern for the two councils.
Rangitikei district mayor Andy Watson called a meeting between all the parties late last year.
"It's a very torturous high country link between Taihape and Hawke's Bay," Watson said.
"It's a challenging road for heavy transport and it's also a road that is very, very expensive to maintain."
He said if the damage to the road continued it would be financially unsustainable for his council to cover the cost.
Taking matters into his own hands, he invited representatives from the Hastings District Council, KiwiRail, the trucking company, the Port of Napier and the the forest owners to come to a meeting in Bulls.
"I said 'look guys we all know this is an unsustainable situation and the logs should go on rail'."
He said if they couldn't come to an agreement he would take his concerns to the government with the aim of getting tolls on the road.
"Effectively four hours later we had a deal. That was before Christmas. It took a little bit of time in terms of infrastructure for loading logs."
Watson said he hoped the logs could be processed in New Zealand in the future. The Rangitikei region had lost an estimated 100 jobs when the WPI mill closed last December.
But for the moment he's taking the victory of seeing a huge reduction in heavy traffic on the Napier-Taihape Road and a safer daily commute for its residents.
A spokesperson for the forestry company Ernslaw One said the company was not able to comment on the new transport arrangement for its raw product.
KiwiRail hails more freight traffic
KiwiRail said it was "great to see" the logs transported by rail to Napier five days a week.
It said each 19-wagon freight train would carry 600 tonnes of logs removing many logging trucks off the roads.
"It's an excellent collaborative effort that shows the value of rail to New Zealand, while reducing wear and tear on our regional roads," a spokesperson for KiwiRail said.
KiwiRail said each train also prevented six tonnes of carbon emissions compared with road transport with logs now railed from Tangiwai, near Waiouru, to Napier via Palmerston North.
