This week Auckland Transport hosted the third meeting of the year for ARA’s Aotearoa Rail Committee.

The committee is comprised of senior executives from KiwiRail, Auckland One Rail, Transdev Wellington, Auckland Transport, and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

At this meeting the committee reviewed the Aotearoa Strategy and identified several new milestones for the next 12 months, with a focus on addressing workforce challenges and diversity, contributing to rail safety regulatory reform, and building a strong formalised network of young rail professionals in New Zealand with links to ARA’s Y-LAB initiative.

The committee was also pleased to see its first major research project, The Benefit of Rail to New Zealand, finalised and publicly released this week. This report demonstrates the critical role rail plays in the movement of people and freight across New Zealand, delivering $3.3 billion of economic benefits each year.

The committee will hold its final meeting for the year in mid-November in Wellington.