KEY POINTS:
Auckland's public transport agency has decided against fast-tracking its $500 million electric trains purchase, in favour of a competitive global call for tenders to be issued next week.
That is expected to take up to a year longer than coat-tailing on a $210 million replacement of Wellington's electric fleet, making it more difficult for Auckland to put trains into service in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
But the Auckland Regional Transport Authority decided yesterday that bypassing a competitive round in favour of Wellington's supplier, the Korean-Japanese consortium of Rotem Mitsui, would have risked protracted challenges from other manufacturers.
The authority's Auckland Regional Council parent body has accepted a competitive round as the safer bet, even though chairman Mike Lee acknowledged last night that the rugby cup deadline would be difficult to meet.
"But we never say never," he said, adding that there would still be enough diesel trains available to carry the extra crowds descending on Eden Park for the cup final.
Despite a likely addition of nine to 12 months to the electrification rollout, Mr Lee said his council was proud to have approved the transport authority's decision to proceed with the project "after decades of delay".
"Electrification will build on the remarkable momentum achieved in Auckland rail over the past five years in which patronage has grown from just over two million to over seven million passenger trips per year," he said.
Yesterday's decisions were taken against a backdrop of nervousness about the Government's commitment to rail in general, following Finance Minister Bill English's comment on Thursday that all planned spending by the renationalised KiwiRail operation would be put under the microscope.
