Auckland’s rail contract tender postponed

The procurement of a new contract for Auckland’s commuter rail operations is being placed on hold.

In April, Auckland Transport short-listed three companies, Transdev Auckland, KiwiRail and Serco NZ, to tender to operate rail passenger services from July 2016.

General Manager AT Metro Mark Lambert says the decision to postpone the release of the request for tender is being made due to a number of contributing factors.

“Since the decision to tender for a new contract, the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) between Auckland Council and the Government has commenced that will consider strategic transport opportunities, which is likely to include rail services and infrastructure. The significant City Rail Link (CRL) infrastructure project will also commence enabling works in the next few months bringing the delivery of this project closer. With these key strategic considerations in mind it would be prudent to wait for any outputs that may impact the scope of future rail service delivery before we go to tender”.

Another key factor relates to the recent transition to full electric train operations (other than between Papakura and Pukekohe) from 20 July and achieving a stable period of high rail punctuality and reliability performance prior to release of the request for tender.

ENDS

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