Lack of urgency killed 'peak time' scenic rail services

KiwiRail has mothballed two of its scenic services, including the Northern Explorer between Auckland and Wellington. (Image: supplied)

Oliver Lewis

Wed, 23 Feb 2022

KiwiRail should have been able to offer its scenic passenger services to customers over the Christmas break, National’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) spokesman says.Instead, the rail operator announced in early December it was cancelling forward bookings on its TranzAlpine, Coastal Pacific and Northern Explorer services until Jan 14.KiwiRail later clarified it was withdrawing the latter two services and was exploring the idea of multi-day rail cruises.But why make the cancellations in the first place?The SOE explained to customers in Decem...

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