Rail Shambles Unacceptable Says Brown

New Zealand First has called on the Government to take urgent action to fix the Wellington commuter rail system which has become a shambles, affecting thousands of people who rely on it for public transport.

Wellington Regional Council is cutting its monthly subsidy by $208,000 because passenger numbers had fallen as a result of poor service. It was the second consecutive month the subsidy had been cut.

Transport spokesperson Peter Brown says the Transport Minister has been sitting on his hands for months over the problems at Tranz Rail.

“The Government should be doing something about setting up a rail track company, purchasing the rail track network back and encouraging the development of rail services to transport both passengers and freight effectively and efficiently. “The Wellington roads are becoming more congested as commuters turn away from the unreliable rail system and get into their cars.”

Mr Brown said it was obvious that Tranz Rail had been milked by its owners to the extent that it was barely able to function as a working railway operation.

“It is a tragedy that the Government is just watching all this happen, while the company holds out for millions more dollars from long suffering ratepayers and taxpayers.

“Mr Swain should get out of his chauffeur driven car and start commuting for a while to learn about these things first hand,” said Mr Brown.

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