Story: Railways

Buying back the railways

Buying back the railways

Helen Clark’s Labour-led government bought the railway network and ferries from Melbourne-based Toll Holdings for $665 million in mid-2008. Garrick Tremain’s cartoon depicts Clark with Minister of Finance Michael Cullen. The circular track is a reference to the way the railways have come full circle – in 1993 the government had sold them to a private consortium for $328 million.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: DCDL-0006972
Cartoon by Garrick Tremain

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Neill Atkinson, 'Railways - Rail transformed', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/cartoon/21422/buying-back-the-railways (accessed 20 April 2024)

Story by Neill Atkinson, published 11 Mar 2010, reviewed & revised 11 Mar 2016