New Zealand Transport Minister Simeon Brown has opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders.
“The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ensure that Auckland commuters are getting to where they need to be on time,” Brown said. “Today’s opening will benefit Auckland commuters by ensuring agencies work closer together to provide a faster and more joined-up response to problems arising on the network. By bringing these agencies together in one centre, I expect to see them working much more closely and collaboratively to provide reliable and predictable metro rail services for Aucklanders.
“Users of the passenger rail networks in both Auckland and Wellington have suffered through significant service disruptions in recent years. These disruptions have been unacceptable and have made important public transport links unreliable for commuters,” Brown added. “While some of the issues are about coordination, others relate to the operating model for metropolitan rail.”
The New Zealand government will also be reviewing the Metropolitan Rail Operating Model (MROM) to improve metro rail services in Auckland and Wellington. The MROM hasn’t been updated in nearly 15 years, and metro rail has grown in scale and complexity over that time, Brown said.
“Rail passengers are frankly fed up with the blame game of who is at fault, they just want a reliable service that turns up on time,” Brown said. “Reviewing the MROM will allow us to develop a more sustainable funding model, including who pays for what, and ensure the services and infrastructure is more focused on delivering a reliable service for passengers.”
