Brian Rudman: Cut all the crap and give us the trains

With people like Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey making the decisions, you have to despair of our masters ever solving Auckland public transport problems.

His reaction to my column on Monday which backed Tranz Rail's fast-track solution to getting adequate rolling stock on our rails by the time Britomart station opens next June was to fulminate madly about the rail operator's past sins.

"Tranz Rail is the anti-Midas of transport: All it touches turns to crap," he wrote. "Its version of public transport probably involves renting pushcarts to luckless commuters."

As a fellow columnist, I can admire Mr Harvey's colourful turn of phrase. But it is deeply depressing that such blind prejudice against the rail operator seems to be governing the mayor's judgment on this important matter.

The reaction from the Auckland Regional Council was more predictable. In a letter from chairwoman Gwen Bull and from phone calls, the emphasis has been on how I don't appreciate the need for competitive tendering - both for legal and good commercial reasons.

I was told that even bringing a similar rebuilt train from Palmerston North so that councillors could check it out would have left the council open to a lawsuit from aggrieved competitors. It was for this reason that such an offer was rejected.

To me, that's taking the whole competitive ethos to ridiculous levels. As one supportive councillor said to me: "If I was in the market for a new car, I would be mad not to look over and test drive a few beforehand."

Another pointed out that while they weren't allowed to view the Tranz Rail conversion, ARC officials had been inundated with videos and sales pitches from other hopeful train vendors. Did the receipt of these videos automatically leave these officials vulnerable to similar suspicions of prejudice? Of course not.

A quick reiteration of the background. Plans for a new Queen St centrepiece of the rail network began in 1992. This was a year before the existing suburban rail fleet was purchased. They were a second-hand, interim solution at the time with a use-by date of 10 years.

Everyone involved knew that this contract ran out in July next year, and has known it for 10 years. Yet here we are with just over a year of the contract to run and the only decision regarding rolling stock is the one taken last week to upgrade 10 of the existing 19 units.

We are also told by operators Tranz Rail that the other nine are so clapped out that trying to keep them alive is hardly worth the cost of the sticking plaster involved.

Meanwhile, the ARC is trapped in a process which is unlikely to result in a tender being let for new rolling stock until around the time of the grand Britomart station's opening. Delivery of the first trains won't be until mid-2005.

This means that for its first two years Britomart station is likely to be host to, at best, a no better train service than we have now. It's a depressing prospect for those of us who see Britomart's opening as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attract new converts to rail.

As an interim solution, Grant Kirby, the Government-appointed transport advocate charged with getting Auckland's rail moving, has been trying to interest the ARC in Tranz Rail's proposal.

Rebuilt from the ground up, these as-good-as-new push-pull trains could be built in New Zealand. They would cost less than new units and perhaps best of all the prototype could be on the tracks within 18 months, followed by others at two a month. An additional selling point is that if a decision is made to electrify, they could be easily adapted.

ARC officials say their statutory obligation to undertake a competitive tendering process means that this option has to join the queue with all the other hopefuls.

I've spoken to several people who know more more than me about the ins and outs of local government and competitive tendering and they question this interpretation of the ARC's obligations.

They argue that the ARC officials are ignoring the political powers of the organisation. As an elected body, the regional council has every right to decide as politicians whether, for example, they want to buy new units, seek out second-hand trains in Japan, rebuild old British carriages, or go for a combination of any of the above.

Only after having made that political decision is there an obligation to begin the competitive tendering process.

In other words, the ARC has every right to decide to buy some rebuilt British carriages as an interim and fast-track solution to the rolling stock crisis without risking any legal consequences.

Only then might there be a need to call for competitive tenders. It would make sense to commission Tranz Rail to come up with the design documents, because the company has done work on it. After that, the rebuilding could be thrown open to competition.

Just who is to blame for the parlous state of Auckland's rail service is not the issue. What we want are workable and pragmatic ways forward. Getting bogged down over issues of process is not helping. We elected our politicians to govern. It's time they got on with it.