The washout of the rail link between the Port of Tauranga and central North Island forestry will have a major impact if it is not repaired within coming days, says an industry spokesman.

The line has been inoperative since Sunday when a freight train derailed due to flooding that had washed out the track.

The locomotive is still on the tracks but about 10 wagons, carrying logs and pulp, were derailed, and were lying scattered across sodden paddocks.

The two-person train crew was uninjured

The freight train was travelling on the East Coast Main Trunk Line (ECMT) from Kawerau to Mt Maunganui.

KiwiRail teams were inspecting the site, and investigators from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission were expected to reach the site on Monday.

The section of the East Coast Main Trunk Line, an important trunk route for goods travelling to the Port of Tauranga, remained closed on Sunday.

Forest Owners Association spokesman Dan Carson says the track's closure would have a major impact if it was not repaired in coming days.

'That's a very important rail link, obviously, from the harvesting hinterland into Tauranga, which exports six billion cubic metres of logs a year. That's twice as much as the next two most important ports combined.

'We have logs to get out, we have limited space to store them, and we need to get them on the ships. There's not much leeway.”

The other option would involve putting more trucks on the road.

'We would rather not do that. Keeping logs off the road is the most efficient and economic way of transporting them and using trucks would mean diverting them from other regions which creates new problems around timetabling and taking them out of commission from elsewhere.

'Were the track out of commission for any more than a few days it would start accumulating difficulties.”

-Marty Sharpe/Stuff.