Twyford PhilLAND TRANSPORT (RAIL) LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): I move That the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Transport and Infrastructure Committee to consider the bill and at the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 24 April 2020. This Government is committed to securing the role of rail in the New Zealand transport system now and for future generations. This bill entrenches a heavy rail network that delivers for New Zealanders and it's our Government's vision that rail is and should be the backbone of a sustainable 21st century transport system. Our vision is for the country's rail network to provide modern transit systems in our largest cities while allowing increasing volumes of freight to be moved off the roads and on to the rail network. Rail is our weapon in the fight against the climate emergency. In our big cities rail enables us to move more people with fewer vehicles and I point to the City Rail Link that the party opposite delayed for five years. When it's completed in 2024 the City Rail Link will allow 54000 people—that's the equivalent of 16 lanes of motorway traffic to carry people in and out of the centre of Auckland every hour. That is 54000 people every hour. That is the power of rail.And with freight we know that over the next two decades the freight task in this country is predicted to increase by 55 percent. If we move all of that freight on our highways using trucks our cities and towns and suburbs will become unlivable and we know that there's a lot of freight that can be most efficiently moved by rail. Not all of it; there's plenty of freight that's time sensitive that needs the flexibility of the point to point service that the trucking industry offers but there's a great deal of freight that can be most efficiently and sustainably moved on the rail system.Rail contributes to our national and regional economic growth. It reduces carbon emissions it reduces congestion in our cities it reduces road deaths and injuries it delivers many wider social benefits and it provides resilience and connection between communities. The freight task in New Zealand is growing and it will continue to grow in nearly all regions. We expect freight tonnage in New Zealand to increase more than 55 percent by 2042 and all parts of the freight system will need to play their part to support this growth. Moving more freight by rail will help to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 it will reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads it will reduce congestion and it will deliver jobs and economic development in our regions.The Future of Rail review found that the current state of the rail network is in a state of managed decline due to long-term under-investment. Short-term planning and funding arrangements for the rail network through the annual Budget process creates uncertainty for the rail business KiwiRail's freight and logistics business as well as their customers who include many of the biggest and most important exporters and producers in the economy. It also found that a lack of integration between the road and rail network investments has been a longstanding problem. Road and rail investments take place within different decision-making frameworks and this makes it very difficult to achieve sensible trade-offs and policy choices between these two vital transport networks. Fixing these issues requires a long-term commitment to investing in the rail network so that New Zealand has a reliable and resilient national rail network that allows rail to play its part in the freight supply chain to move the freight that it can move most efficiently and sustainably.On top of investment in the passenger network through the National Land Transport Fund—and I want to just say that on Monday morning this week it was great to be out at Trentham with my colleagues Chris Hipkins and Ron Mark announcing and kicking off the beginning of construction on the double-tracking of the railway line between Upper Hutt and Trentham. That's an improvement to the Wellington regional network that's been talked about for 50 years. Our Government is getting on and doing it after 50 years of other people talking about it and Ron Mark made the comment when we were out there at the Trentham railway station that he and Chris Hipkins had campaigned in 2008 on those improvements.Michael Wood: What happened?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Nothing happened for nine years—nothing happened for nine years—but now our Government is getting on and doing it. It is part of a package worth $196 million that our Government is investing in improvements to the Wairarapa line supporting those communities in the Wairarapa and making a more efficient service in Wellington that will serve both commuters and freight customers. And I should remind the House that in the Wellbeing Budget earlier this year the Government made a $1 billion investment in the rail network—a $1 billion investment; $741 million of that is just the first phase of investment needed to start restoring a reliable resilient and safe freight and passenger network. Alongside that $741 million another $300 million has been committed from the Provincial Growth Fund to support regional rail projects to provide lead investments and to support growth and jobs in the regions as they too recover from nine years of neglect.Fixing rail is not only about increasing investment; we cannot continue with the current approach to planning and funding rail that we've inherited. Until now rail's been treated as an orphan in the transport system left out in the cold cut off from the funding planning and decision making in the national land transport programme. We are bringing rail in from the cold fully integrating it alongside roads motorways and all the transport investments so that for any transport task no matter what it is decision makers can consider rail alongside other modes and invest in the most sustainable and efficient option. We want to move more people and more freight by rail and we want to grow the network where it makes good economic sense. That means investing in the infrastructure the rolling stock the hardware and the people that will make the system work as it should.The Land Transport Management Act 2003 currently deals with the planning and funding of public transport State highways and local roads and this framework ensures that these land transport modes are planned on a long-term basis and have certainty. This bill amends the Land Transport Management Act and the Land Transport Act 1998 to bring the planning and the funding of the rail network under the land transport planning and funding regime set out in the Act. The new rail planning and funding framework will see a statutory three-year rail network investment programme prepared. The Minister of Transport will be required to approve in consultation with KiwiRail shareholding Ministers. The Minister of Transport will be required to approve National Land Transport Fund allocations for rail network investments. KiwiRail will be responsible for developing the rail network investment programme and the delivery of rail activities within it.The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) will also have important roles under the proposed changes. The NZTA will provide advice for the Minister of Transport on how the rail network investment programme fits with the overall land transport investment programme. The agency will also be responsible for monitoring the delivery of the programme. This bill also recognises the importance of metro rail in the Auckland and Wellington regions and under the bill KiwiRail will become a member of the regional transport committees in those regions. Those committees put together the regional land transport plans every three years. KiwiRail and the regions already work closely together on the development of the Auckland and Wellington rail networks and this provision in the bill will just reinforce that relationship.The changes to the Land Transport Act will also allow fees and charges on track users to be set by regulation and to be paid into the National Land Transport Fund. This will ensure that track users can contribute to the costs of the rail network in a fair and transparent way. This bill is about changing our approach to transport and taking a long-term strategic-planning approach to rail. It will consider rail and road investments together in a joined up way. It will allow fair rational and consistent decision-making and investment. This will deliver a better stronger more sustainable transport system.