Cool response to suburban rail push

It would take "millions" of signatures for the Otago Regional Council to reconsider rail as a passenger transport option in Dunedin, but a Purakaunui woman believes the council needs to "look outside the square" and into the feasibility of running a suburban railcar service from Dunedin.

Danielle Cameron has so far secured 1300 signatures supporting the idea of reinstating a passenger rail service to Mosgiel, Port Chalmers and Palmerston and hopes to get more.

A group of interested people would meet in Waitati tonight to begin drafting a submission to the regional council's 2009-10 annual plan process and the petition would be presented to support it, Ms Cameron said.

It would ask the council to "think outside the square" and look at the feasibility of a rail service, taking into consideration the social and environmental benefits, not just the economics.

"I don't know how much it will cost. That's what I'm asking . . . them to look at."

Three or four return railcar services a day could be justified on the Palmerston line. to take workers and shoppers to Dunedin from Palmerston, Waikouaiti and smaller communities including Waitati and Purakaunui, Ms Cameron said.

But she had not asked people what they would pay to use such a service.

"People like trains. We're not going to be able to afford cars forever."

The service could provide extra jobs for the district if the railcars were built in Dunedin by Hillside Engineering, which was building carriages for Auckland and Wellington, she said.

Taieri Gorge Railway operations manager Grant Craig said if regional council funding became available for railcar services, his company would be interested in operating them.

However, the regional council's policy and resource planning director, Fraser McRae, said it would take "millions" of signatures before the council could look at a suggestion of using rail for public transport.

The council had investigated the possibilities during its review of Dunedin's passenger transport system, but rejected the concept for reasons of efficiency and cost.

Nothing had changed since then, he said.

"We can have a better level of public transport services with buses for ratepayer money than we could ever do with rail."

The only cities in New Zealand to run rail services were Auckland and Wellington, which had the populations to support them.