Watchdog warns Toll NZ

By PAM GRAHAM

The country's competition watchdog has found Tranz Rail wanting in the way it charged heritage rail operators using its tracks between 1997 and 2002.

The Commerce Commission said Tranz Rail, which now trades as Toll NZ, acted anti-competitively and it has warned the company that it faces enforcement action if it does it again.

"The behaviour is now well and truly ceased," said Geoff Thorn, the commission's general manager.

"The real issue here is not about what Tranz Rail was doing, so much as the message to any person who operates a network that if competitors are given access the price has got to be one that is not anti-competitive," he said.

The former Tranz Rail abandoned a cost pricing system for heritage operators running on its tracks for a system based on fares set for Tranz Scenic scheduled services.

But its new system overcharged because operators providing their own rolling stock did not get a discount, the commission said.

The company has since reverted to a cost-based charging system.

The commission statement related to members of the National Federation of Rail Societies, now known as the Federation of Railway Organisations.