Crunch time for Overlander

Chances of saving the Overlander passenger trains between Auckland and Wellington hinge on deliberations by Cabinet ministers today, as rail operator Toll prepares to blow the final whistle on Saturday.

Ministers who earlier rejected a request by the company for a $1.75 million annual operating subsidy and $500,000 capital grant to upgrade its 1930s rolling stock have since received three proposals to keep passenger seats warm.

These include an offer by the four regional councils along the route to help to market the Overlander or any successive service, and a proposal by a Wellington-led business consortium for more upmarket and streamlined scenic trains from January 1, 2009.

A third proposal, from the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, would involve a takeover of the Overlander by Government rail agency Ontrack under a locomotive-leasing arrangement with Toll.

Although Toll has offered to give serious consideration to any proposal for saving the service, it is taking no more bookings for trips after Saturday, forcing National Park's Station Cafe to issue layoff notices to four of its eight staff.

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee said yesterday that he remained confident the service could be viable without a subsidy, given the solid bookings it had received in its final weeks and an offer by the councils to help to market it.

Wellington businessman Thomas Manning of the Manning Group, leading a consortium of investors, told the Herald he had already held meetings with transport operators keen to support a scenic service his group hopes to launch in 2009.

The consortium planned to buy three electric-diesel trains, similar to the Silver Fern railcars now operating between Auckland and Pukekohe, but longer and with larger windows.

Mr Manning said his group would seek $5 million of an estimated $30 million in capital and start-up costs as a regional redevelopment grant from the Ministry of Economic Development, and he indicated a scenic service would be viable for a ticket price of about $140 compared with the existing common fare of $99.

"It will be a luxury rail trip compared with the Overlander but it will still be accessible to New Zealanders," he said.

A briefing paper from the consortium promises sheepskin seating, digital entertainment, native wood interiors and food and wine "to airline business-class standards".

Green MP Sue Kedgley, whose party has gathered more than 24,000 signatures to a petition to save the Overlander, called on the Government to advertise overseas for other potential operators for what was one of the world's great scenic railway routes.