Telematics provider Teletrac Navman has announced it has reached the 100,000-asset milestone across its New Zealand and Australian customers. It recently installed its GPS fleet tracking technology in the Safety MAN Road Safety Truck, an initiative led by the NZ Trucking Association. “We work with thousands of companies across Aotearoa, from grassroots family businesses to large multinational operators in transport, construction and professional services, and we are thrilled to reach this milestone,” said Ian Daniel, Vice President and Managing Director Asia Pacific, Teletrac Navman. “We track everything from powerful freight trucks to SPCA Auckland’s rescue vans, and nippy Domino’s Pizza…

KiwiRail has linked up the track between Picton and Christchurch for the first time since November’s Kaikoura earthquake devastated the line, Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced today. “Staff held a small ceremony near Rakautara, north of Kaikoura this morning, and completed the final weld,” Mr Bridges says. “This is an important milestone in getting the line open again, and in easing the pressure on upper South Island roads.” Teams from around the country have been working to replace twisted track, rebuild bridges, repair tunnels, and clear enormous slips along the route in order to get freight moving again on rail…

On Wednesday, the council’s Finance Committee is being asked to give urgent funding approval to purchase 17 new battery powered trains, or Independently Powered Electric Multiple Units (IPEMUs) as they’re referred to officially. The council paper and the full business case notes that the urgency is because a deposit needs to be made by September this year to ensure delivery of these new trains in 2019 which is when the capacity constraints really start to bite. Given how plainly obvious this issue has been for some considerable time, it’s a bit absurd that it now needs to be made so…

At two minutes after midnight on May 12th, the hyperloop became a little bit less of a pipe dream and little bit more of a reality. On that day, the Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One conducted the first full-system test of its technology in the desert north of Las Vegas. As several dozen of the company’s engineers and executives watched an array of monitors nervously, a metal sled accelerated to 70 mph (112 km/h), achieved levitation, and flew about 500 feet (152 meters) down the length of a 1,600-foot (487-meter) steel tube that had most of the air sucked out…

If you were in either San Francisco or LA, and wanted to arrive in the other city first thing in the morning, you'd have to catch quite an early flight. It could potentially leave you feeling groggy for the rest of the day. Well, Cabin offers a less costly and potentially more restful alternative. Its sleeping-cabin-equipped buses run between the two cities, leaving from one at 11pm and arriving at the other by 7am the next day. The service began life as the SleepBus pilot project, which was initiated by entrepreneur Tom Currier. Following its success, Cabin was born. Each…

KiwiRail’s efforts to keep freight moving around New Zealand following the Kaikoura earthquake saw it take home an Australasian Rail Industry Award in Sydney last night. KiwiRail won the Freight Rail Excellence category in recognition of its response to the November 2016 earthquake, which severely damaged New Zealand’s road and rail networks in the upper South Island. “In the earthquake’s immediate aftermath up to 50% of rail freight moved to road and coastal shipping,” says KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy. “The earthquake was an unprecedented event and its impact on the national supply chain has been significant. It challenged us…

New Zealand is a long way from the rest of the world. It takes three to four hours to fly from Auckland to the big eastern Australian cities; over half a day to reach the US West Coast or Southeast Asia; and most of a day to reach Europe. Our geographic isolation has advantages – for instance, it’s easier to manage biosecurity controls to protect our local environment and agricultural exports – but also many economic costs. As the gravity model of trade predicts, countries that are further away from each other tend to trade less. In other words, our…

The Ministry of Transport and BusinessNZ are partnering to commission a study into how New Zealand’s economy can benefit from transport innovation, Transport Minister Simon Bridges says. “The potential of self-driving cars and their associated economic opportunities are often the focus of research and investment, but there are many other aspects of the transport system which present economic opportunities,” Mr Bridges says. “I want to see businesses positioned to flourish in New Zealand as intelligent transport systems (ITS) are commercialised.” The study will be overseen by an advisory group, which will meet for the first time today, chaired by Dr…

Materials handling specialist, Hiab Australia, has launched three new cranes as well as a new Moffett M4NX truck-mounted forklift. The new X-HiPro 232 sat at the Hiab stand alongside two other new X-HiPro mid-range cranes, the smaller X-HiPro 162 with a 15.1m extension and the series' big brother, the X-HiPro 302, which boasts a full outreach of 21m. The new Hiab T160, a stiff-boom crane that is classed as a 15.5tm crane with a maximum lift capacity of 6500Kg is an integrated hoist that lifts straight up rather than in an arc, making it ideal for precision lifting over walls…

he NZ Transport Agency has confirmed that SH3 through the Manawatu Gorge will remain closed as work continues to ensure the safety of the route. Transport Agency Highway Manager Ross I’Anson says work is continuing at the two recent slip sites to ensure that the route will be safe for people to use when the gorge is re-opened, including the installation of additional rock fall netting at both slip sites, and the Transport Agency will re-open the road as soon as it is safe to do so. “We understand that this lengthy closure and the uncertainty around re-opening is frustrating…

Transport Minister Simon Bridges says Auckland’s Waterview Tunnel will open to traffic in early July, marking the biggest milestone in the city’s transport network in more than half a century. The $1.4 billion Waterview Connection is New Zealand’s biggest and most complex roading project, including twin 2.4km-long three-lane tunnels. “Once open, it will transform the way people and freight move around Auckland, and will represent the biggest change in travel patterns since the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959,” Mr Bridges says. A ceremonial opening on Sunday, 18 June will be followed by public open day’s to allow…