Old-timer trains past their use-by date

By CATHY ARONSON

Nine of Auckland's 19 passenger trains are past their use-by date and do not meet international collision standards.

Tranz Rail wants the ADK trains replaced by June next year, but the Auckland Regional Council says they cannot be replaced until 2005 or 2006, when it gets about 25 new trains.

Its passenger transport committee began an open tender process for new trains yesterday.

The 10 other existing ADL trains are up to 20 years old and are due for an $8 million refurbishment when Tranz Rail's passenger service lease expires. It needs the nine old trains to cater for expected passenger growth of 20 per cent when Britomart opens in June next year.

As the deadline looms, the region's transport leaders have hotly debated the trains' future.

Tranz Rail has warned the ARC that the ADK trains are past their use-by date.

The nine trains, which were built in 1968, are four years past their normal life expectancy.

Tranz Rail strategy manager William Peet says the light structures of the trains were built to 1960s standards. They do not meet international collision standards, and would not withstand a crash as well as modern trains.

Land Transport Safety Authority spokesman Andy Knackstedt says his agency is satisfied that the trains are safe, otherwise they would not be on the tracks.

The Auckland Regional Council is due to discuss the trains and approve the refurbishment designs with Tranz Rail early next month.

The refurbishment of the newer 10 trains will give them at least another 10 years.

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