Ski train to run again

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 293, 4 July 1989, Page 3

Ski train to run again

The ski train that brought Aucklanders to the snow last winter is to run again, after uncertainty about its future.

A new operator has taken over the Kiwi Lager Ski Express, organised last year by a now-bankrupt Auckland entrepreneur. Alan Crossman, who has taken over Parklands Restaurant in Ohakune, has shouldered the task of organising the running of the train this winter. Mr Crossman boasts 12 years experience in "designing, marketing and running international tour programmes". He says a number of improvements are planned for this year's ski express, including first and second class options, group discounts, advance purchase savings and children's fares, a revamped dinner and snack menu

and a cocktail bar. He says Ski Express Holidays - the group operating the train - are negotiating with accommodation businesses in National Park and Ohakune to develop ski packages. The first train will roll on 7 July, and Mr Crossman says he is expecting an average of 250 travellers on each run. The train leaves Auckland Fridays at 6.00pm arriving at National Park at 11.10pm and Ohakune at 11.40 pm. The return journey leaves Ohakune Sundays at 5pm and gets in to Auckland at 10. 40pm. Warren Banks, northern region marketing executive at Dominion Breweries,

says his company's renewed sponsorship of the Kiwi Lager Ski Express is part of the Kiwi Lager national ski

programme, which also includes sponsorship of radio ski reports, snow phones, and other various ski activities.

Kiwi Lager will be sponsoring the nationals at Whakapapa in September. Mr Banks said the

Kiwi Lager Ski Express was successful because "it allows people to travel to the mountain in style and comfort

while avoiding the exhausting - and sometimes dangerous - drive or the confinement of bus travel."