New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters welcomed Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s manifesto today.
“The Mayor wants to wrest control of railways for Auckland. Just yesterday New Zealand First announced our policy to do just that,” Mr Peters says.
“We proposed this idea to the Mayor a few months ago and commonsense went down well then.
“Currently, rail in Auckland involves Auckland Council who own Auckland Transport, Auckland Transport who manage trains, Auckland One Rail who run the trains, KiwiRail who maintain the tracks, and then a host of policy and regulator apparatchiks beyond them.
“When trains don’t turn up, who is accountable?
“We proposed establishing Auckland Rail to own all metropolitan rail infrastructure and passenger trains, with one board and one CEO accountable to the Mayor and Minister as equal shareholders.
“It’s our job to fund the rail system, and it should be one company’s job to deliver you services.
“Welcome aboard the Commonsense Express, Mayor Brown,” Mr Peters says.
