Govt to spend $800m on Wellington commuter trains

Thursday, 25 July 2024

A dollar-figure has been put on the promise for new commuter trains for the Wairarapa and Manawatū line. But the regional councils might not get hybrid trains, after all.

The Government has committed to spending $800 million on new, faster trains for rail routes headed from Palmerston North and Masterton into Wellington.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown, standing on a platform of the Wellington train station early on Thursday morning, announced the $802.9m in spending for the Manawatū and Wairarapa lines, putting a dollar-figure and a delivery date on a commitment made last year by the Labour Government.

But a prior pledge to acquire hybrid electric-battery-diesel trains, as the Greater Wellington and Horizons (Manawatū) regional councils want, has been scratched. Instead, all engine types will be considered as the Government and regional councils begins talks with three shortlisted train builders from next week.

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“We want to make sure you get value for money,” Brown said.

“So the regional councils’ preferences very clearly are for hybrid trains, and that's not unexpected and it is certainly part of the mix, but at the end of the day value for money is critically important when it comes to every single dollar invested.”

The Government committed to spend $800m on new commuter trains for Wellington on Thursday. From left: Horizons chair Rachel Keedwell, Greater Wellington chair Daran Ponter, Transport Minister Simeon Brown, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

Brown said the National-coalition Government had not changed the amount of central government contribution first committed to the project by Labour in 2023. The regional councils will contribute $71m to the project.

To be purchased are 18 new four-car train units, a total of 72 cars, for the rail lines headed into the Capital that will double the number of peak-time services and decrease the travel times on both lines by 15 minutes.

Three companies have been shortlisted for a tender process beginning on Monday: Alstom Rail Transportation New Zealand Limited, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA., Stadler Bussnang AG.

The trains are expected to begin operating from 2028, near the end of the life of the existing rail stock.

An AI generated image of a possible future Metlink train that connects Wellington with Wairarapa and Manawatū. The image was produced by Metlink for today’s funding announcement.

The rail infrastructure will also be upgraded, with three new “stabling facilities” for trains, upgrades to platforms north of Waikanae and Upper Hutt, and a second platform built at the Maymorn station.

“We want to make sure we’re providing people with the choices that they need, to be able to help them get where they need to go quickly and safely,” Brown said.

“This is about reliability and frequency of the service … One of the biggest things which inhibits people from using public transport is the reliability of public transport.”

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter said the regional councils would still prefer hybrid trains, which could operate on battery power beyond the electrified train network in the Wellington region.

“Value for money is key for us, the Government is the majority funder of this … but look, we’re making the decision here for trains that are going to be with us for the next 30 or 40 years, so it’s critical that we get the most efficient technology,” he said.

“But we may have to cut our cloth, to suit.”

He said the current 50-year-old rail carriages would not last more than five-years, so it would be “cutting it fine” to get new trains. But the companies selected as possible providers had many trains “on the shelf”, simplifying the procurement process.

Labour Party transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said the Government was re-announcing a Labour commitment as Brown had “run out of ways to distract people” from the Interislander ferry saga.

The Government has yet to announce what a prior rail-enabled ferry project would be replaced with, after it canned it due to cost overruns.