Keeping a busy Masterton road open will cost more than $4.8 million, KiwiRail says.
The price escalation has shocked Masterton councillors who are now making urgent pleas to central government for funding.
KiwiRail proposed closing the Judds Rd crossing last year to "create a safer and more efficient railway" and was met with fierce resistance from elected members, businesses, and residents.
Closing the crossing would result in the road becoming a dead end.
KiwiRail programme director Andy Lyon said to keep the crossing open safely, it would require traffic lights on Ngaumutawa Rd that are connected to the railway signals, along with some road reconfiguration.
"Unfortunately, it comes at a high cost," Lyon said.
Typically it would cost from $300,000 to upgrade a simple rural crossing and up to $1.3m for a high traffic crossing like State Highway 2.
Initial estimates for Judds Rd as the design was progressing were more than $2m.
"We have now had the work properly costed with input from contractors and it is expected to cost more than $4.8m," Lyon said.
Local Democracy Reporting has requested a cost breakdown.
Masterton Deputy Mayor Bex Johnson was "flabbergasted and disappointed" with the cost escalation.
"We certainly can't expect ratepayers to pay for it.
"The only way to keep it open is to get central government funding."
An independent report to KiwiRail estimated the economic benefit of keeping the road open was more than $2m a year.
In total, 25 level crossings would be upgraded and five would be closed along the stretch of network between Featherston and Masterton to prepare for the arrival of faster, and more frequent trains on the line from 2029.
Masterton Train Station. (Source: Emily Ireland)
Lyon said KiwiRail was required under the Railways Act to remove risk so far as is "reasonably practicable".
"The most complex crossing to manage was Judds Rd," he said.
"It is the most dangerous type of crossing of the lot, because of the risk of buses and long vehicles sitting over the tracks while waiting to join traffic on Ngaumutawa Rd.
"The clean way to remove the risk is to close it, but we know there is a strong desire from the community to keep it open.
"While responsibility for roading sits with NZTA and councils, we've been supporting Masterton District Council by commissioning roading designs that manage the risk to an acceptable level, and would therefore enable the crossing to stay open."
Johnson said it felt like the council had been given "an impossible task that we can’t work with".
KiwiRail has moved any work on the Judds Rd crossing to the end of the construction programme to give time for funding decisions to be made.
Work would start next month to upgrade level crossings at Cornwall St and Hillcrest St and should be finished by the end of the year.
Work on upgrading Ngaumutawa and Akura roads begins early 2025, with Renall St to follow in the middle of 2025.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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