Response: OIA2021.22
22 March 2021
To Brett Cooper
Via FYI.org
Dear Brett
Official information request for information on fuel usage and freight tonnage
I refer to your official information request dated 19 February 2021, asking:
I would like to know how much fuel (diesel) the freight trains used each year for as many
years as records are available as well as a record of how much freight was carried for those
years too.
Please find our response below.
Fuel consumption
We do not hold records of the amount of fuel used by our freight trains per year as KiwiRail
operates a mix of diesel and electric locomotives with part of the North Main Truck Line
electrified. 160 of our mainline locomotives are diesel, 15 are electric and all of our shunt
locomotives are diesel.
With the mixture of propulsion types, and the additional usage of diesel locomotives for our
scenic services the fuel consumption by freight services alone is unable to be easily
separated out.
We can however advise the annual fuel consumption for our total locomotive fleet is
43,863,550 L per year, and our mainline locomotive fleet travel a combined 14,422,949 km
per year, or an average of 82,419 km per locomotive per year – which will hopefully give you
an idea of the rough numbers on fuel consumption .
Freight volumes
Please find the table below showing freight carried by financial year:
Combined Freight
Financial year
Freight Tonnage
Container Tare
Tonnage
2009
13,298,630
1,619,124
14,917,754
2010
13,703,720
1,461,681
15,165,401
2011
14,643,651
1,508,388
16,152,039
2012
15,822,095
1,677,976
17,500,071
2013
15,855,380
1,766,529
17,621,909
2014
15,937,036
1,763,132
17,700,168
2015
15,914,057
1,864,094
17,778,151
2016
15,547,356
2,196,803
17,744,159
2017
15,649,189
2,278,346
17,927,535
2018
16,526,204
2,568,518
19,094,722
2019
18,071,568
2,677,961
20,749,529
2020
16,362,466
2,565,163
18,927,619
Please the freight tonnage figure is the actual weight of goods carried by rail (with no
allowance for non-rail freight on our Interislander Ferries).
The container tare figure is provided, as that allows for 3rd party containers that are moved
on rail.
We have been able to go back as far as 2009, as this was the first KiwiRail year. Data
captured before then may be calculated in a different way.
We trust this answers your query, please get in touch if you have further questions.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or by calling free-phone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Dave Allard
Government Relations Advisor, KiwiRail
