Minister of Transport Simeon Brown attended the official opening of the hub on Friday, although it has been operational since April 8.
Wareing Group director Mark Wareing said the hub would streamline freight volumes in and out of Mid Canterbury and reduce the impact of trucks on roads.
"It’s setting the region up for a lower-carbon future and the location near the Northpark Industrial Park is ideally located to take advantage of this new hub.
"Helping exporters and freight partners move more freight by rail makes sense both from a business and sustainability perspective and will help stabilise the supply chain issues our clients and their customers are facing."
The hub development cost $18million, a $2.5m contribution coming from the government’s NZ Upgrade Programme and $2.3m from the Ashburton District Council.
It is a project Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown has been looking forward to.
"I’ve been waiting for this day for over six years, right from when I got the first phone call from Mark asking for assistance in getting the rail yard moved from the centre of Ashburton.
"Mark had the vision to get trucks off our congested state highway and put the containers that transport the goods on to rail."
The hub would have several benefits for Mid Canterbury.
"Significantly reducing shunting in the centre of town means locals aren’t stuck at level crossings any more while wagons are connected or disconnected
... It’s been a great collaboration and will be an asset for our district."
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said working with the Wareing Group to move operations to Fairfield would increase the amount of local freight carried by rail from 6000 to 20,000 containers a year.
"That’s half a million tonnes of freight off the region’s roads
... And given rail offers 70% fewer emissions compared to heavy road freight, it’s a substantial reduction in transport emissions.
- By Jonathan Leask
■LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
