A vital rail line used to transport freight to and from Northland will be closed for months, as work gets underway to clear a massive slip covering its path.
The line was damaged after more than 60,000 cubic metres of earth tumbled down a hillside during the Auckland Anniversary storm, and was worsened by the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle.
"It's actually quite overwhelming. I had seen some aerial shots of this area but just to see it in person and standing on this slip, it's incredible the amount of stuff that has come down," local MP Marja Lubeck said.
It's situated on the northern Auckland line, between the communities of Helensville and Warkworth.
The slip — just one of 50 along the track — covers more than 100m of railway line, stopping all rail freight services in and out of Northland.
"We're working with our customers and really, we're road bridging pretty much all the product," KiwiRail chief operations officer Siva Sivapakkiam said.
Milk giant Fonterra is among the customers impacted by the service cancellations.
It said transporting goods by truck is less efficient, more carbon intensive and puts pressure on an already strained roading network.
"It is quite a lot for us to move. It's probably going to take us anywhere between 10 to 12 weeks to fix at least," Sivapakkiam said.
Lubeck said they "have all recognised that this is not a one-off, it will keep happening and we have to make sure that we're prepared for it for the future".
But cleaning up is proving challenging, with the amount of rainfall over the past fortnight causing multiple delays.
"It's pretty soggy and that's where our huge problem is," Sivapakkiam said.
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