Mainfreight chief pushes NZ option

By PAM GRAHAM

As Mainfreight chief Don Braid sees it, the Government has gone for the easy option by doing a railtrack buyback deal with Toll Holdings and sold local transport operators down the river.

He was talking to the Government as late as Sunday about assisting the first Government track buyback plan with either management expertise or investment.

"Why an Australian operator?" said Braid. There was a New Zealand option.

He said if Toll was successful in its full takeover of Tranz Rail it would have a monopoly rail network and the nation's largest trucking fleet.

TranzLink, Tranz Rail's distribution business, had a fleet of 330 trucks, 39 depots in New Zealand and five in Australia and freight-forwarding businesses. It got better rates on rail than companies that competed with it, Braid said.

Mainfreight put $15 million of business on rail each year and would increase that figure by $10 million if the service was better.