Transport Minister Phil Twyford won't commit to a timeline for an Auckland to Hamilton passenger train line, with inside Government reports indicating it's unlikely to be up and running this Parliamentary term.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act (OIA) reveal the "quickest and easiest" option for a passenger rail connection between Auckland and Hamilton would be late 2019
using diesel hauled "refurbished" carriages.
But feedback to the Government on this fast-tracked "interim option" rail line has been largely negative, and make a 2019 delivery date for a passenger rail appear highly optimistic.
The NZ Transport Agency, and Auckland and Waikato councils - two of the three regional council funding partners needed to get any form of passenger rail up and running - have rejected the "interim option".
The Minister of Transport also refused to clarify to 1 NEWS any sort of timeframe for the Auckland to Hamilton passenger rail Labour campaigned on, beyond reaffirming they are "committed to regional passenger rail, including in the golden triangle between Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga".
Now, any decision on funding won't be finalised until September this year, according to the Transport Minister - who has also distanced the Government from direct funding responsibility, saying it's now NZTA's decision.
"Under our draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, rail can be funded out of the National Land Transport Fund for the first time ever," Mr Twyford told 1 NEWS.
"However, funding for specific projects are operational decisions made at arms' length from the Government by the New Zealand Transport Agency Board."
This decision on which transport projects will be funded under the National Land Transport Fund will be decided by the NZTA board this September, Mr Twyford says.
Transport commentator Matt Lowrie is editor of the blog Greater Auckland who has provided a Regional Rapid Rail plan endorsed by the Labour Party and Greens - both of whom have promoted the plan on their party websites.
"We're in favour of doing something that's going to make the service viable, we don't want to just rush it and end up with a bad outcome, or end up with a failure," Mr Lowrie says.
"We would rather the Government took a little more time and got it a bit more right to have something that's usable. If that means an extra year or two before that's in place then that's still a better outcome for everyone."
Mr Lowrie said he thinks it's "unlikely" the passenger rail line between Auckland and Hamilton will be operational by 2020.
He says a "more practical" timeline for the passenger rail would be to have all surrounding infrastructure in place by 2020, and then actually start implementing and constructing the line.
This surrounding infrastructure includes a third rail line in the Auckland metro circuit between Otahuhu and Wiwi, and eventually Papakura, so that the Auckland metro service would not have to give up trains to transport ingoing and outgoing Hamilton passengers.
"The things I would expect the Government to be doing this term is getting the infrastructure in place for that so it's ready to go once the other stuff is built," Mr Lowrie says.
"There's a lot of progression with how things need to happen, how you deal with Hamilton, what places the train stops, and getting those stations upgraded, and all those things can start happening now and be worked on in preparation for actually launching the service."
One of the Labour Party's policy promises from the 2017 election was to "create a passenger rail service linking Auckland, Hamilton, and Tauranga and, if justified by demand, upgrade it in stages to a rapid rail network throughout the Golden Triangle".
There is no advice provided to the Ministry of Transport around a train line connecting Tauranga with Auckland or Hamilton in the OIA documents received on May 28.
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