Western Community Board chairwoman Tracy Dalton and member John Schollum were shown around the central trail by Department of Conservation coastal Otago area manager Robin Thomas, and Otago Central Hotel owner Ngaire Sutherland, yesterday.
Mr Schollum and Mrs Dalton, along with the community board, hoped to open an 11km cycle trail between Okaihau and Kaikohe within the next few years.
Ontrack closed the rail corridor in the 1980s and it had since become overrun with weeds.
The Far North District Council would be able to lease it, and open it up to private enterprise, Mr Schollum said.
The Government's announcement of putting $50 million into a national cycle track had lifted board members' spirits, and spurred them to get the idea off the ground.
The board would put together a business plan to, hopefully, secure some funding, Mr Schollum said.
In a similar experience to "trail pioneers" in Central Otago, opposition to the northern trail had been voiced.
"There are those who are pro it and those who think we are barking up the wrong tree," Mr Schollum said.
But meeting people who had established a successful rail trail, and hearing their stories first-hand, had lodged the idea firmly in their minds.
"It's given us more enthusiasm," Mrs Dalton said.
