High noon arrives for rail plan

By JASON COLLIE transport reporter

Tranz Rail and Auckland's transport negotiators have been warned to use "every minute" today to meet the deadline for a deal over the city's railtracks.

The two sides meet this afternoon and Transport Minister Mark Gosche expects an accord aimed at opening up Auckland's rail lines for improved commuter services.

An agreement in principle is expected today, with the final deal to be signed by the end of next month.

The previous deadline in March was missed and Mr Gosche told the Herald: "I am expecting them to use every minute and every hour [today] to get a solution.

"The pressure is on them to come up with an agreement."

He would not comment on what action the Government would take if a deal was again not struck.

The hold-up has been over how the expanded public transport system would be set up.

Auckland's political leaders want Tranz Rail to "assign" its lease of western and southern lines to them, followed by a bidding process for operators to run the services, preferably using light rail.

Tranz Rail has favoured keeping the lease and running the services itself.

It was suggested this month that Tranz Rail wanted $300 million to hand over control of some of its corridors - 10 times more than the value put on it by the region.

The chief executive of Infrastructure Auckland, Richard Maher, who has been handling the negotiations for the region since October, said: "We are certainly open to Tranz Rail's approaches and we are still hopeful that we can achieve the milestone.

"Our hope is that we both engage in discussions to the wire."

Government-appointed mediator Jeff Todd is not expected at today's crucial meeting.

Tranz Rail spokesman Paul Spackman was unwilling to comment before the meeting.