Commuter rail campaigner and former Kāpiti Coast district councillor Gwynn Compton has called out Transport Minister Simeon Brown for breaking his 2023 election promise to fund 22 tri-mode trains for the Manawatū and Wairarapa lines and instead merely re-announcing the same 18 trains the former Labour Government had already funded and announced.

“In the 2023 election campaign, National promised commuters across Manawatū, Horowhenua, Kāpiti, and Wairarapa that they were going to deliver 22 tri-mode trains as originally recommended by both local government and the New Zealand Transport Agency,” says Mr Compton.

“Instead, what we got this morning was the Coalition Government merely re-announcing the exact same 18 trains that had already been announced and funded by the previous Labour Government in Budget 2023. It’s a situation eerily reminiscent of the ABC’s award-winning TV series Utopia where politicians prioritise finding "announceables" regardless of whether it’s something that’s already been announced.”

Gwynn Compton also says that given Simeon Brown’s repeated criticisms from opposition of his predecessors for their failure to deliver on their transport promises, he has no excuses for not delivering on his own commitments to commuters.

“We heard endless criticisms about the former Labour Government’s failure to deliver on its transport initiatives. Yet here we are, with Simeon Brown less than a year into the job, and he’s already breaking promises in much the same way. The Minister can dance about this all he wants, but there’s no escaping the fact that he promised 22 tri-mode trains, which would enable a tripling of peak and off-peak services, and now he’s simply not delivering that.

“Simeon Brown either needs to front up with an apology for breaking his promise or, better yet, stump up with more funding to purchase the full 22 tri-mode trains he campaigned on delivering for us.”

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