No easy ride for $65m rail plan

By BERNARD ORSMAN and WAYNE THOMPSON

The $65 million deal for the Auckland's rail tracks hit two snags yesterday: opposition from Northland councils and Government caution on funding.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Government had been asked to pay $35 million towards the deal struck between Auckland political leaders and Tranz Rail on the track corridors.

She said the Government could "not consider coming to the party" until Auckland presented a detailed case for the money.

Helen Clark was speaking after she and five ministers met civic leaders in Auckland.

The councils have three months to come up with $65 million to pay Tranz Rail to hand over its leases of the western, southern and central city lines for new services - either buses, light rail or conventional rail.

Helen Clark said the case would have to reach the Government very soon for Auckland to get the money.

Infrastructure Auckland and local councils will also foot the bill, to be paid to Tranz Rail on September 30.

Northland mayors have written to their Auckland counterparts expressing grave concerns about the effect on freight and scenic train services to the north, and asking for the deal to be delayed until they have been consulted.

They are worried that if services other than conventional rail are run on the western line - the route to Northland - conventional rail services to the north would not be able to run most of the day.

Conventional rail cannot run at the same time as buses or light rail so the only time for trains to run north would be between 1 am and 5 am.

Rodney District Council commissioner Grant Kirby, whose council is a party to the deal, said yesterday that he would not sign unless commuter services on the western line were extended from Swanson to Kumeu and Helensville.

He said he was negotiating with the Auckland Regional Council for a link to those two areas, which are targeted in the ARC's growth strategy.

ARC chairman Phil Warren said Northland councils should take up their concerns about services with Tranz Rail.

He saw no problem extending commuter services to Helensville.

The chairman of the Auckland Mayoral Forum, Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, said the good thing about Helen Clark and ministers coming en masse to Auckland was that it showed there was a partnership and it gave the green light on the main issues the city wanted to address.

Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher said the Government needed to speed the passage of local government legislation to allow the region to get on with major transport and other issues.

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