Mainlander fine but not for regular rail travel
I have written in the ODT and submitted proposals to Parliament while campaigning with Save Our Trains proposing a cost-effective intercity rail service between Christchurch and Dunedin.
Mainland Rail’s proposal (ODT 29.11.25) is not that.
It will support tourism, but it is not affordable, reliable transport for the 750,000 people in the Invercargill-Dunedin-Christchurch corridor. With fares nearly $200 one-way, a family of four would spend $1600 for a weekend return trip to Christchurch or Dunedin.
The proposals developed by me and others offer an alternative to arduous drives on SH1 and high airfares. The goal is a return fare of $150–$200, with discounts for children, students, pensioners, disabled people, frequent users and veterans.
Mainland Rail will use almost 60-year-old former British stock. We propose adding to the recent order of medium-distance railcars for Wellington. Three new modern railcars could provide a daily return service from Christchurch-Invercargill, and two return services Christchurch-Dunedin, opening the South to business and leisure travellers alike.
Readers may ask about the cost. The answer is simple: the South Island contributes 22% of GDP.
We have already funded one-fifth of the new trains for Wellington and Auckland through central government — dozens of units for cities hundreds of kilometres away.
Funding three new trains for the South would hardly strain the Beehive. It is perverse that we subsidise northern rail systems while being denied equivalent provision ourselves.
I welcome Mainland Rail’s value to tourism and will happily travel with them one day, but it is not the service needed for everyday public transport.
It is a question of "when" rather than "if" before the South receives the modern rail link it has already paid for and deserves.
Fact checking
Re Stan Randle’s letter on the compulsory teaching of the Treaty of Waitangi (ODT 29.11.25), it was interesting to see that he felt the need to do some research on me, albeit incorrect.
He got my surname wrong and I retired from my teaching role at the University of Otago College of Education over six years ago. You need to get your facts right Mr Randle.
Driving and hospitals
A Facebook contributor (ODT 24.11.25) opines that "most of [us] whingers" should remember that there is no driving or parking in European CBDs and "everyone survives just fine there". There won’t be many European cities with the main public hospital in their CBD either.
From froth to dribble, a guide to Shane Jones
Questions have been asked of late about Shane Jones’ colourful language with respect to the Otago Regional Council: viz, "green banshees", " Dunedin demonic eggbeaters" and Kremlin infiltration. An answer lies in the life cycle of a chronic condition. It has been pointed out that as a youthful Labour MP, Jones vilified those who wished to honeycomb the nation with mines. This he has dismissed as mere "youthful frothing at the mouth". And so it is revealed; incontinence never goes away, but evolves from the froth of youth to the dribble of age.
Red dread
Re the article on the Otago Regional Council’s demise (ODT 27.11.25). The government is proposing abolishing elected officials and appointing and installing its own representatives able to veto decisions against the interests of New Zealand as a whole.
It sounds suspiciously like socialism to me.
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