The problem with water travel in New Zealand is that weather often closes ports. But it is true that NZ lacks the scale that many existing rail systems rely on

The problem with water travel in New Zealand is that weather often closes ports. But it is true that NZ lacks the scale that many existing rail systems rely on, and also lacks high-speed roads (a good rule of thumb for driving anywhere in NZ is: look at how many miles it is on the map, calculate how fast you could go that far in America, then double the time).