Customer Focus: KiwiRail: Partnering to grow volume and velocity

Published Friday, 10 October 2025
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KiwiRail plays a fundamental role in New Zealand's economy, moving millions of people and over 17 million tonnes of freight every year along its 3,700 kilometre network. For exporters, KiwiRail is a key enabler, working in partnership with LPC to connect Kiwi businesses with their global markets.

Around 18% of New Zealand's total exports are carried by KiwiRail, with a significant portion flowing through Lyttelton Port. In the past 12 months alone, KiwiRail has moved 1.9 million tonnes of freight to Lyttelton, running 60 train services into the Port weekly.

Alan Piper, Executive General Manager of Freight Markets at KiwiRail, says LPC is the ideal hub for getting South Island goods out to global markets.

"Lyttelton offers a number of advantages as an export gateway. It has a large local consumer base, which supports efficient container utilisation, combined with a central location and a broad range of shipping lines. It offers volume, velocity and speed of access to markets - and that's what matters to exporters," says Alan.

One product that has recently ramped up its use of the KiwiRail-LPC corridor is wine from Marlborough. With nearly 80% of all New Zealand wine produced in the region, exporting it efficiently is critical.

Marlborough wine begins its rail journey at KiwiRail's Spring Creek hub in Blenheim, where containers are loaded directly onto trains and then railed south to Lyttelton. The model is particularly suited to bulk wine, which is transported in insulated bladders inside standard 20-foot containers. These can be double-stacked on a single rail wagon, offering a capacity advantage that trucks can't match.

The environmental benefits are also significant. Despite the extra distance, railing wine to Lyttelton emits less carbon than trucking it to closer ports. "Rail is up to 70% more carbon efficient than road transport. That's important for exporters, because having a smaller carbon footprint is a powerful selling proposition," Alan says.

The partnership between KiwiRail and LPC continues to strengthen as both organisations invest in the future. With an $8b cash injection from government, KiwiRail is undergoing a major fleet upgrade, including new wagons and locomotives for the South Island. This will increase capacity and improve reliability, helping to shift more freight from road to rail.

Port-side, LPC's proposed infrastructure investment will support greater freight throughput, with rail playing a vital role in moving containers on and off the Port.

"As ships increase in size, the freight task becomes larger. That makes it even more important for rail to operate efficiently," says Alan. "We're working with LPC to connect our rail-enabled infrastructure in the region so we can move larger numbers of containers in a coordinated way."

While KiwiRail and LPC represent different links on the export chain, both organisations share the same goal.

"Ultimately, we both want to help Kiwi exporters be more competitive and successful in the global marketplace. That means getting home-grown goods out into the world with speed, efficiency and certainty," says Alan. "Together, we're working to make that happen."