All articles by Murray King

Chain of Responsibility in road freight transport

In Australia, the Heavy Vehicle National Law provides for heavy penalties for actors in the road freight industry for safety offences. The key point of difference from usual road laws is that they are aimed at all participants in the decisions that led to a safety incident, including those outside the transport sector. Thus all actors from sender to receiver are covered, in what is known as the “chain of responsibility”.

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Extended issue on floods and their impact

Three major weather events in January and February this year caused large scale flooding which severely damaged North Island road and rail infrastructure, particularly in Hawke’s Bay. This extended issue covers the recent storms and their impacts.

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Impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events on the rail system

During January and February, the North Island was subject to three severe weather events (as defined in the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Act 2023): Cyclone Hale, from 8 – 12 January, the Auckland Anniversary Day storm from 26 January – 3 February, and Cyclone Gabrielle from 12 – 16 February. All of them affected the railway system, but most of the impact was from Gabrielle.

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Of Pigs, People, and Pianos

In Brett André’s interesting new book ‘Can’t Get There From Here: New Zealand Passenger Rail since 1920’ he argues that past managements and politicians have been half hearted in their approach to carrying people, and that with a bit of effort (and funding) we could see a resurgence in passenger rail in New Zealand.

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GPS 2021

The GPS puts the Government policy stamp on the spending by the National Land Transport Fund. Over the next ten years most spending will be on roads and their safety, improvement and maintenance.

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