Stations next for facelifts

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Work is due to start this week on improving Auckland's rail network down the line from the state-of-the-art Britomart railway station, which has been dogged by train delays.

About $3.3 million has been freed up to improve lighting and pedestrian access at the 40 other stations, upgrade overbridges and improve signalling and trackwork over the next six months.

Another $6 million will be spent building new stations at Papatoetoe, Glen Innes and Ranui by early next year.

The money was made available after Finance Minister Michael Cullen stepped in and stopped a major turf war holding back development of the rail network.

The Auckland Regional Council and a body set up by local councils to run the rail network, Auckland Regional Transport Network, spent months bickering at the expense of commuters, who are paying the price with late trains and third-world stations.

Dr Cullen last month told the bodies that he had had enough and the Government would keep control of Auckland's rail network. Last week Dr Cullen wrote to the parties setting out the rules and telling them that in the short term all development proposals would be handled through his office.

In the long term, the Government plans to pass responsibility for the Auckland rail network to a new company, TrackCo, set up to own the national rail network. The Government is negotiating to buy the entire New Zealand track network as part of the plan by Australia's Toll Holdings to buy Tranz Rail.