Much of the rail line between Invercargill and Ohai will be mothballed given the planned coal mine closure near Nightcaps.
Bathurst Coal Ltd has advised that Takitimu Mine will close in FY27 as the current coal resource is exhausted and further expansion is not viable, given its customers’ decarbonisation strategies. Coal transportation will cease by mid-late 2026 and final rehabilitation and decommissioning of the mine will commence.
KiwiRail Chief Infrastructure Officer Siva Sivapakkiam says the mine closure means there is no future freight to carry on most of the 79km Ohai Line so that section will now be mothballed.
“The Ohai Line is in a poor state and most of it is already closed to trains. Significant damage to track and other infrastructure occurred in an extreme weather event in September 2023. Since then, coal from Takitimu Mine near the end of the line has been transported by road to Invercargill, where it is put on trains and travels 450km north to near Timaru.”
“The line requires more than $1 million of repair work to reopen it but it will then need tens of millions of dollars more spent on upgrades - including replacing a number of ageing wooden bridges with modern structures - over the next five years.”
“The national rail network is publicly funded and given the mine is closing this spending cannot be justified.”
“KiwiRail always supports the use of rail where it makes sense. The first 9km of the Ohai Line, which supports the Alliance Groups meat works at Lorneville is not impacted and remains fully operational, supporting this important trading corridor.”
Coal will continue to be moved by road until the Takitimu Mine officially closes.
KiwiRail will also be removing level crossing signage from just north of Lorneville, as trains will not be allowed to run on the line.
However, there will be periodic inspections in rail vehicles and some low-level maintenance between Lorneville and Ohai to ensure the rail corridor remains safe and to limit overall deterioration in case new freight opportunities emerge and the line is reopened in the future.
No KiwiRail jobs are impacted by the mothballing decision.
ENDS