Wellington.Scoop
There’s been remarkably little comment on the government’s announcement that it’s changing the rules for running Wellington’s new commuter trains. In fact, the word privatization has been mentioned only once.

Forty-eight of the new 149-seat Matangi units are now being built, at a cost of more than $210million, for delivery to Wellington next year. The photo (from KiwiRail’s staff newsletter) shows one of the units under construction at Changwon in South Korea.

But it seems that Tranz Metro might not be operating them.

Last week’s announcement says that KiwiRail will own the units. But the surprise is that it will not necessarily run the services, as it does at present with its subsidiary Tranz Metro. The government has decided to make the running of the service contestable, with the regional transport authority and the New Zealand Transport Authority choosing the operator.

The new policy will also apply in Auckland, where suburban trains are already run by a private contractor who might decide to compete for the Wellington service too. But the subject of new trains is a touchy one up north because, unlike Wellington, they haven’t yet had government approval to order new electric trains.

One Auckland blogger has echoed the government belief that the prospect of competition should improve service levels. Another Auckland blog says the Minister’s plan looks a bit like the system in the United Kingdom – which has had mixed success, with passenger numbers up and overall service quality down.

The toughest comment. however, comes from an authoritative correspondent in Saturday’s DominionPost.

“We taxpayers and ratepayers are in the throes of spending up large on new trains and improving rail infrastructure, but the Minister is suggesting that the benefits of that upgrade go into private hands,” writes Bob Stott, the former editor of Rails magazine.

“Not everyone will be peased to see public subsidies finish up overseas ….

“To argue that the trains will remain in the public domain and that only their operation will be privatized is not the point. Under the reported proposal, Trans Metro is up for privatization.”

Privatisation? That’s something which was supposed to be “not on” during the government’s first term. Which makes it surprising that only one person has used the word so far.

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