A government review has found the commuter rail benefits from Auckland’s $5 billion City Rail Link (CRL) project are at risk due to underfunding of the rail network, KiwiRail’s expertise, and difficult relationships between key players.
Triggered by a brief April disruption to Wellington commuter services, Ministers had concerns about the priority placed on metro passenger rail in both cities by KiwiRail, whose business is predominantly freight.
It has called for improvements in safety systems, more investment in track upgrades and maintenance equipment, and for KiwiRail to add a director of metropolitan rail, to its executive.
A critical date in Auckland was the 2026 forecast opening of the twin downtown rail tunnels (CRL) and new inner city stations, which will double the capacity of the city’s commuter rail system.
Stuff reported in August that due to the rising cost of a disruptive $405m track upgrade in Auckland, the state rail company was still short of funding to complete the whole programme.
The review found a $20-30m annual shortfall in funding needed to maintain KiwiRail’s assets in both Auckland and Wellington.
“In our view a short-term intervention with reallocation of Crown funding to close the gap, must be in place as soon as practicable. Further delay exacerbates what is clearly a concerning performance risk,” it said.
KiwiRail/Supplied
KiwiRail crews laying new track in Auckland during the 2022-23 summer rail shutdown
KiwiRail needed to increase its focus on commuter rail alongside freight.
“Given the two priorities, and the dominance of freight revenue, we conclude that more must be done internally at KiwiRail to prioritise metropolitan rail,” it said.
Particularly in Auckland where commuter rail, run by the council agency Auckland Transport (AT), has been growing, the decade-old agreements on how the tracks should be shared were found outdated.
“What worked in 2012 is no longer fit for purpose in 2023,” found the review.
“AT had asked KiwiRail if they were willing to stop running freight trains in order to significantly shorten the length of time a commuter line would be closed/disrupted. KiwiRail were unwilling to do so.”
Robert Kitchin/Stuff
KiwiRail CEO Peter Reidy at a parliamentary select committee in May, following commuter chaos in Wellington
It proposed a new agreement in which metro services were given priority across more of the day.
New, more joined up governance arrangemens were called for involving KiwiRail, AT, (and its Wellington counterpart, the regional council) and the safety regulator Waka Kotahi, which needed to be more proactive.
The review said it wasn’t clear that all the findings of a review into worn tracks in Auckland, which sparked a disruptive renewal programme in 2020, had been implemented.
The city faced months of disruption and line closures in 2020, as worn rails were replaced, and is now in a more disruptive series of line closures as the track foundations are renewed.
KiwiRail was found in need of more specialist staff, such as in the signalling area – “A view was expressed that there was insufficient management and (not enough) of those people.”
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Auckland’s Eastern Line remains closed for the rest of the year while ageing trck foundations are replaced
“In Auckland, when coupled with the addition of CRL, this team of people will effectively need to double in size,” it found.
The review noted KiwiRail was buying more, and expensive track maintenance equipment, but that it would still be insufficient.
“Our assessment is that the cost of having metros out of action, poorly maintained or with excessive line speed restrictions, is likely to far outweigh the cost of not having to wait for plant to become available.”
KiwiRail welcomed findings and said it had “already moved to change its systems.”
“We are absolutely committed to providing a safe and reliable rail network for all commuters in both Wellington and Auckland,” said Peter Reidy, the chief executive.
Stuff has approached Auckland Transport for comment.
