ARC Grieves For Shunted Rail Plans
March 26th, 2009
Auckland Regional Council Chairman, Mike Lee, says the Govt has “wrecked” the prospects of a viable commuter train system. His comments come after the Auckland Regional Council was caught wrong-footed after the Govt scrapped the regional fuel tax, having advanced plans to introduce an integrated ticketing system, order new trains and build stations it now can’t pay for. Council officials have been urgently dispatched to Wellington for discussions with the NZ Transport Agency. They aren’t feeling optimistic – the NZTA’s budget is already over-allocated. “We recognise the NZTA budget is fairly limited.”
Change a challenge. The ARC embraced the former Labour Party’s commitment to rail, but hasn’t adapted readily to the new Govt. As late as August Lee was praising former PM Helen Clark and deputy PM Michael Cullen for their “historic, courageous and visionary decision” to buy back Toll NZ and create KiwiRail, a move strongly opposed by National. Since the election, he says, “the coalface has changed so dramatically and so quickly it’s hard to contemplate what has happened.”
KiwiRail the saviour. Part of the ARC’s response has been to propose to the Auditor-General all remaining rail assets held by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority be transferred to KiwiRail. This would send the $48m bill for refurbishing existing trains and the Newmarket railway station project to the Govt. Confusion has been the outcome of divided ownership of Auckland’s rail assets, with Toll and the ARC separately having owned trains while KiwiRail provided the infrastructure and another body owned the physical assets.
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