Editorial: Far too many cooks spoil railway broth

The outcry in parts of Auckland over the first regional rate demand appears to have had an impact already on the region's plans for a much-improved passenger rail service. The Auckland Regional Council's latest long-term financial strategy does not make provision for $145 million it had been expected to put aside for new trains. The allocation was agreed among the plethora of public bodies with a hand in this project when a business plan was issued three months ago.

The ARC now says it never promised the funding but merely agreed to the business plan "in principle". The real reason, more likely, is that in those three months the council has become a good deal better acquainted with some of its ratepayers. And it has probably lost the stomach for another hefty rate increase next year, a local body election year.

Whatever the reason for the ARC's change of heart, it is one more hitch in a project that is becoming plagued with them, and one more sign of the dissension, indecision and confusion that has become typical of any major undertaking involving two or more Auckland local bodies. Ratepayers contemplating this year's increase, largely to meet a 65 per cent rise in the ARC's public transport spending, probably imagined they were already paying to replace the refurbished old rail cars that trundle apologetically into the new Britomart terminal. It seems not.

But the council's second thoughts at least give ratepayers an opportunity to ask why they should be asked to finance rolling stock at all. The Auckland railway lines have been repurchased from Tranz Rail at considerable expense to national taxpayers. The lines are available for use by any new operator that can offer the best service on terms the ARC can set. So why not invite tenders from operators who must provide their own rolling stock?

Why not? Because the public bodies that have planned and will subsidise this rail-based public transport scheme are unwilling to leave any decisions to the private sector. The regional and city councils have decided when, where and how often trains will run and they mean to control the standard of service down to the last detail. They will choose a private operator to run their trains, roster the staff and clip the ticket, not much more. It will be an easy business for the chosen company. The risky decisions will have been made by councils and if they do not pay off, the public will carry the cost.

How much better it might be if the ARC was to invite proposals from international rail operators. Some, akin to Todd Holdings which is bidding for the national freight business, probably would be prepared to put capital into terminals and other fixed plant as well as rolling stock, which it would presumably lease on commercial terms. Then the money the council is raising from ratepayers could be used to offer grants and subsidies to whatever configuration of service could attract most passengers at least cost.

But the ARC unfortunately likes to run things, and if the law will not yet let it operate a railway, it is determined to design it down to the last detail. It is not alone in that. The region's mayors and some of their councils have played leading hands, too, and they have set up a company, Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd, to manage the terminals and perhaps the tracks. The Government, meanwhile, also wants a say in the management and development of the tracks since it is about to buy back the national network.

The diffusion of roles and responsibilities is becoming farcical. And the risk to ratepayers is that the council that taxes them for the cost may be just one of several bodies to blame if the system does not satisfy them. In the meantime, the continual disputes are doing nobody any good. The die is cast, the Britomart terminal is waiting. It's time the trains were coming.