Council after penalty clause in rail track deal

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland Regional Council rail chiefs are trying to negotiate penalty provisions in a track maintenance agreement to avoid more chaos at Britomart.

Rail director Elena Trout told the council's transport committee yesterday that she was trying to add penalties and incentives to a new deal with the Railways Corporation after a computer failure disrupted 21 train services for up to an hour last month.

The failure halted all movements in and out of the station on the eastern and southern lines in the evening peak of August 24 - the second day of business for new train operator Connex.

Mrs Trout disclosed her negotiating stance after councillor Mike Lee asked what Aucklanders were getting in return for more than $4 million paid annually for track maintenance and depreciation.

She said the council was pressing the Treasury and Railways Corporation, which took control of rail tracks from Toll NZ last week, to accept penalty and incentive clauses in a long-term access and maintenance agreement.

"We share your concern about the fees we pay," she told Mr Lee. "We are encouraging them to accept that if they do not provide what we are paying for, they should be penalised."

Corporation officials could not be reached for comment, but Mrs Trout told the Herald after the committee meeting that she was particularly concerned about the Britomart failure as the signals operated on new railways track.

Passengers are meanwhile being warned of more disruption for four weeks from the beginning of the school holidays on September 18, for work associated with a duplication of rail tracks between Mt Eden and Morningside.

The first stretch of new track in Auckland since the 1960s is expected to be laid on Monday, and passengers will from the following weekend be ferried by bus between the two stations during interpeak hours.

* Although the proportion of train services running either on time or no more than five minutes late improved slightly to 84.3 per cent in the three weeks before the Britomart disruption, rail proved less reliable than buses and ferries in an annual passenger satisfaction survey.

The poll of more than 4000 public transport passengers, conducted by Auckland University researchers for the council, found that almost 60 per cent of those who travelled by rail considered reliability to be poor, very poor, or "dreadful".

This compared with 40 per cent of bus passengers who were similarly disaffected, and only about 3 per cent of ferry patrons.

Council transport marketing manager Claire McAlpine said reliability was critically important to customers, who were often prepared to tolerate other shortcomings as long as services ran on time.

But ferries were also rated higher on most other service criteria, such as the friendliness and helpfulness of staff and personal safety, on which buses scored lower than trains.

The survey found that 80 per cent of rail passengers travelled at least twice a week, compared with 78 per cent of bus and 74 per cent of ferry patrons.

Bus passengers were more of a captive market, with just over 40 per cent saying they had no private vehicle, compared with 18 per cent of rail and 13 per cent of ferry users.