City mayor backs rail pilot for greater Chch
Mainland Rail has begun seeking finance for a year-long commuter rail pilot from Rolleston and Rangiora into Christchurch, including from the public purse.
It follows the success of several services feeding greater Christchurch residents into the city for events, like the sold-out Crusader’s Express, and elsewhere in the South Island.
The private rail company has long had ambitions of creating a commuter service in greater Christchurch, but mayor Phil Mauger revealed that ambition had progressed at a full council meeting on Wednesday.
He told colleagues he had written a letter of support for Mainland Rail’s desire to pilot the commuter service.
In his letter, written on Tuesday and supplied by the Christchurch City Council, Mauger said he understood the company had proposed a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) in order to secure the funds for a yearlong pilot.
Mauger did not go into detail, but it appears he was referring to the infrastructure financing tool, which allows councils, iwi, and private developers to access public funds through the Government.
An approved SPV might look like the Government creating a levy on landowners in areas which stand to benefit from upgraded infrastructure, to be collected by councils through rates, but a levy is not essential.
Mainland Rail was asked to comment on the proposal, what the funds would be used for, and how much money it wanted.
Managing director Ian Ladd did not answer specific questions, but said the company was talking to multiple potential financial partners about the feasibility of a commuter service.
“If public funds become one of those financial options, we expect those to go through the required and transparent processes for public expenditure,” he said.
He said there were no firm plans, but it would be ideal for the service to be a public private partnership.
Ladd said the Crusaders Express train from Rolleston and Rangiora had proven so popular the company had been asked to make the service more regular.
The company’s interest in commuter services can be traced back at least as far as July 2025, when Ladd and Paul Jackson, chief executive of Mainland Rail’s parent company, Rail and Tourism Holdings, created the company Greater Christchurch Rail Ltd, which is classified as a passenger transport service in the company’s register.
In April, NZ First leader Winston Peters praised Mainland Rail for getting to work on building a case for commuter rail without waiting for government “handouts”.
If Mainland Rail needed some public subsidy to get started, however, Peters said that made sense, but he would not go in to detail about how he might support the project.
Mauger, in his letter, praised Mainland Rail for its services across the region and South Island, and for its “ingenuity” in making use of existing assets and infrastructure.
Before the pilot could start it would need to be approved by the local public transport authority, Environment Canterbury (Ecan).
Ecan chairperson Deon Swiggs said there had been discussions with Mainland Rail about a commuter service proposal and the organisation was looking forward to more information.
It would require Ecan to follow a legal process and approve it as a council.
The council had not been told about the SPV, but had learned about it through Mauger’s letter, Swiggs said.