Watching a train going onto a ferry is quite a sight, as the heavy weight can move the ferry around quite a lot.
However, the days of a heavy freight train trundling onto a Cook Strait ferry are numbered.
Kiwirail chief executive Peter Reidy said acquiring rail-enabled ferry technology was very expensive.
“We will now be moving more and more freight, as we have been doing, on a road-bridging basis,” he said.
“It will be railed into Wellington, it will be put onto rubber wheeled bogies and put onto a ferry.”
The double handling would add to the cost, but it would be offset by a lighter overall weight on ferries which would save in fuel and time.
A decline in rail-compatible ferry technology has been blamed on international developments, such as the channel tunnel, which have reduced the demand for such equipment in Europe.
3 Responses
WELL I WAS ON A FERRY LIKE DAT
ohhhh how cool
Same