Isolation

An interesting (and long - be warned) interview on the radio this morning about transport links to Gisborne.
The roads into Gisborne have always been challenging, and keeping them operational is difficult.  The railway line to Gisborne has been under threat of closure since as long as I can recall.  There is room for both, more than this I think that both are necessary.  As a result of the interview I am now aware that there were size constraints on the railway line (perhaps from tunnels in the Mahia area) that prevented it from carrying large containers, and that these constraints have been eliminated in the last year or so.
The level of support for rail from the representatives of Gisborne business was surprisingly high.
The main disappointment was the representative of the New Zealand Transport Agency.  He reinforced my opinion that the use of the word "Transport" in NZTA is somewhat of a misnomer, because they are very much focussed on roads, and cars and trucks.  From what I understood from the interview, there is still no method for assessing land transport options on a fair basis; road and rail are treated as quite separate things, when they are not.  This narrow-minded thinking has blighted transport investment in New Zealand for at least fifty years.