Climate activists block railway track in coal transportation protest

Thursday, 28 January 2021

Jana Al Thea, of Extinction Rebellion, at a coal protest at Dunedin Railway Station in January 2021. [File video]

Environmentalists chained themselves to railway tracks just metres away from large freight trains thundering past in a protest against the transportation of coal.

Six Extinction Rebellion activists took up their position outside Dunedin Railway Station at 7am on Thursday, supported by about a dozen other placard and flag-waving supporters and watched by police, KiwiRail staff and onlookers.

Jana Al Thea, of Extinction Rebellion Ōtepoti, said the protest was not over freight but about KiwiRail transporting coal from Western Southland through Dunedin.

“We are big supporters of KiwiRail. They are needed for a clean green future, and a clean green economy, but we just can’t support them transporting poison through our city.”

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Extinction Rebellion activists on tracks outside the Dunedin Railway Station to protest coal trains transported through the city.

At one point during the protest a police officer checked to see if activists had face masks, minutes before two large freight trains passed just metres away.

While the two trains were allowed to pass via a separate track, Al Thea said if a coal train attempted to use the same method they would “try and stop it”.

The action follows a similar protest in early December when eight people locked themselves to a track, blocking a train in a protest against coal.

Al Thea declined to say if the group would continue protesting of this type, but said it wanted to hold KiwiRail accountable until it stopped transporting coal.

A KiwiRail spokeswoman said the company was “managing the situation, and perishable and urgent freight is being moved”, but declined to comment on specific train movements.

Police were on hand to monitor the protest.

The daily coal train runs from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s Clandeboye milk factory in Temuka.