Government plugs into plan for electric trains

Government ministers have given qualified support for a multibillion-dollar electric railway in Auckland, but want officials to scrutinise the business case before they open the public purse.

The Auckland Regional Council yesterday accepted a plan from its transport agency for a fleet of up to 40 electric passenger trains, and called for the first to go into service by 2012.

That followed a year-long study by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority pointing to a "desperate" need for new trains to sustain the boom in rail patronage.

Authority chairman Brian Roche said a record 566,000 passenger trips last month posed "the dilemma of success - the more successful we are, the more rolling stock is required."

Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Transport Minister Annette King said the Government supported the authority and council's efforts to improve Auckland's rail transport.

They said it looked forward to working through issues raised in the plan and announced a technical group of regional and Government officials to check infrastructure and funding. The group is to finish the scrutiny by the end of the year.

In a letter, the ministers said a preliminary reading suggested it was consistent with the Government's agenda for Auckland, including "economic transformation and climate change."

That represented a softening of Dr Cullen's earlier stance, when he told the council he did not see rail electrification as a priority for Government funding in the short term.

But the ministers emphasised hefty investment was needed to implement the plan in full, and questions remained about the right time to make a decision on electrification and the transition path from Auckland's present fleet of diesel trains.

Council chairman Mike Lee said the ministers were right to be cautious, given the size of investment required of the Government and region, but he was confident of meeting their need for more evidence that patronage would keep growing.

A rail system including electric trains could cost $3.6 billion over 25 years, to push annual patronage to 30 million. However, Mr Roche said the cost would be only $150 to $180 million more than buying new diesel trains.

Electric trains would support the strategy of concentrating growth close to transport corridors, he said.