ARC blasted for 'secret anti-rail plans'

By chris Daniels

As national politicians zero in on Auckland's transport woes ahead of the general election, one regional politician has turned on his own officials.

Mike Lee, an Auckland Regional Councillor, has attacked council bureaucrats, saying they are operating a "secret agenda to get rid of rail."

The ARC has been locked in negotiations with Tranz Rail over access to the Western railway corridor, which the council wants to use for a rapid-transit system.

The ARC wants Tranz Rail to submit to a competitive tendering process before giving the company money to boost commuter use of railways.

Mr Lee said the council had "taken a dogmatic Thatcherite approach to opening suburban railways to free-market competition."

Tranz Rail gained an 80-year lease on the tracks when it bought New Zealand Rail from the Government.

Mr Lee said this privatisation had been a financial failure and its profit-driven structure left it in no position to carry out the huge investment needed in Auckland rapid transport.

A Tranz Rail spokesman, Paul Spackman, said discussions were continuing with Infrastructure Auckland and the ARC about buying "all or part" of the western rail corridor.

"The ball is in their court," he said.

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has offered to call in a mediator to resolve the access issues between the region's politicians and Tranz Rail.

But Mr Spackman said there was no need for a mediator at this stage as there was still much room for progress.

Other efforts by Auckland mayors to make regional transport problems an election issue seem to be bearing some fruit, as more Wellington-based politicians start to talk about motorways and congestion.

The Treasurer, Bill English, said last week that he was "picking up a growing impatience over the lack of action" after talking to local-body leaders.

"The Government has the toolkit," he said, referring to plans to change the funding of road projects, allowing money to borrowed.

At present all road projects are paid for in the year they are completed.

The economic costs of Auckland transport problems were huge, said Mr English.

The Act party leader, Richard Prebble, has been pushing transport as a way of winning crucial list votes in the Auckland region.

He told a public meeting in the Tamaki electorate last week that only 110km of the 175km motorway system originally planned for Auckland had been built.

He said Act was the only party arguing for more roads to be built, which was crucial if Auckland was to retain its economic supremacy.