Locke Supports Electrification Of West Auckland Rail Line

Auckland Green MP and Associate Transport Spokesperson, Keith Locke, today welcomed the new public transport plan for Auckland, and called on the Government to ensure that Transfund adequately supported the scheme.

"The plan for an integrated passenger transport system incorporating heavy rail, light rail and busways is a significant step forward for Auckland. The Auckland local bodies have worked long and hard to achieve a consensus on this issue and we welcome this integrated plan," he said.

Mr Locke also praised the decision to electrify the western line.

"Replacing diesel trains with electric units will improve air quality in Auckland and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with New Zealand's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol," he said.

"Now is the time for the Government and Transfund to step forward to cover any funding shortfall in the proposed scheme. In addition, the Government needs to finalize negotiations with TranzRail so that new rolling stock can be ordered to run on the lines once they are taken back into public ownership."

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>