24 November 2010

Media Statement

Rail case should give National the jolt it needs

The Auckland Council’s business case showing the viability of the city’s CBD rail loop undermines once and for all the Government’s reluctance to support the proposal, says Labour’s Transport spokesperson Darren Hughes.

“To say the Government is lukewarm on the proposal is doing National a kindness,” Darren Hughes said.

“It is so fixated on re-inventing and massaging cost-benefit cases for its so-called roads of national significance, like the $1.65 billion holiday route between Puhoi and Wellsford, that it has completely failed to get its head around the need for public transport systems that work in our major cities.

“You would have thought that with the Rugby World Cup now less than a year away, that public transport would be as much a priority for the Government as it is for the new Auckland Council, and as it is certainly is for Labour,” Darren Hughes said. “Sadly, that’s not the case.

“A major city like Auckland needs a proper rail network. It needs to be able to move people around quickly and efficiently.

“That is a basic pre-requisite to Auckland’s future economic progress and success, not roads that don’t serve the greater needs of the region,” Darren Hughes said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media