Spokes Dunedin is circulating a letter people can email to Government ministers calling for urgent action on the rule that all new shared walk/cycleways on KiwiRail land be a minimum of 5m from the centre of the rail line.
The organisation says the local action will soon become national.
It emerged last week $500,000 of spending on the Chain Hills trail that would have connected Dunedin and Mosgiel may have been in vain, after the new rule meant part of the trail by railway near Abbotsford could no longer proceed.
The Dunedin Tunnels Trail Trust had been developing the track for two years. KiwiRail was aware of the design and had visited the site for meetings four times before the rule was changed.
Trail trust chairman Gerard Hyland last week described the rule change as ''a real slap in the face'' from KiwiRail, and said he did not know if the trail could go ahead.
There were ''pinch points'' by the railway the trail could not traverse under the new rule.
Cycle advocacy group Spokes Dunedin's letter to Transport Minister Phil Twyford, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, Dunedin North MP David Clark, Dunedin South MP Clare Curran and others said the organisation was ''very disappointed'' with the rule change.
''This will limit, and in some cases completely stop planned trails on KiwiRail land.''
It asks the ministers to investigate the matter ''with all urgency'' to persuade KiwiRail to apply a 3m rule, with fencing.
Spokes chairman Jon Dean said his organisation had been discussing the issue with the trails trust.
The rule change did not just affect the trust and Dunedin.
''For the rest of the country it's actually a big pain in the butt.''
Mr Dean said he could understand what KiwiRail had done from a health and safety perspective.
''It's just the implications are quite horrific for a lot of cycle trails, especially recreation-style ones around the country.''
It also went against what the Government wanted in terms of transport.
''Spokes is just trying to advertise that there's an issue here, and the Government just needs to be made aware of it.''
He said he hoped a process could be found to work out what could be done to satisfy and mitigate risks.
Mr Dean said Spokes would be ''ramping this campaign up a bit'', taking it to a national level through the Cycle Action Network.
The bigger issue was the threat to the proposed cycle connection linking Dunedin and Central Otago.
''It's a bit of a bummer for regional development, especially for places like Milton and Waihola, Waitahuna and all those places.''
Mr Twyford's office yesterday referred questions to Ms Genter, who said she was very supportive of the development of new cycle trails.
But she did not indicate she planned to do anything about the issue.
''Ultimately, this is an operational decision for KiwiRail who need to balance their role in supporting cycling and maintaining safety around their tracks.''
Ms Curran, whose electorate includes the Chain Hill trail, said she would lobby for a change.
She planned to send a ''please explain'' to KiwiRail, asking how the company came to its decision and what due diligence it did in terms of the impact. She would ask ''them to take another look at it''.
''It seems unfortunate and unfair if the project is scuttled by an arbitrary decision.''
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Comments
Sorry Twyford you and others don't have a say how a company decides to enforce its regulations OSH procedures. IMHO now they have changed the ruling to 5 mtrs it can't be decreased or used as a bartering tool to get to back to 3mtrs for something in return. Where have you been all been when the Cycle ways have been created wrongly and required re engineering where have you been? so why are you here now, obviously you don't care about the waste of money then so really should you be having a say now?
Good on Twyford, Clark and Cullan for asking that this decision be explained.
How often does a container fall off a train? Much less frequently a load from a truck I would have thought, and many trucks pass you with less than a 1.5 metre gap, let alone 3. The fact of the matter is that Kiwirail doesn't see how trails are in their commercial interests and they need to be challenged on this decision and not misuse health and safety legislation.
Taypayers gave Kiwirail 450 million dollars in 2017 for infrastructure. They have a responsibility to create and allow infrastructure that will benefit NZ citizens.
How many more cyclists will die on roads where they will have to go instead unless the tunnel/rail tracks go ahead? It must be a political game to return old rules for something in exchange.