“Finally!” I thought as I read this headline. But to my dismay it was just more of the same with Aucklanders griping about their power cut. The New Zealand Herald article was one of many exclaiming in few, but emotive words how Aucklanders suffered so horribly. Never mind this can happen to anybody (witness my posting No Ordinary Monday).

What I thought it was referring to was the latest delay to strike the capital’s commuter services. I sat on a train inside a 4km long tunnel last night for two minutes – stationary. It stopped twice more before my station and the entire journey normally takes only 10-12 minutes!

A SMS text message arrived after I got home which stated a points failure had occurred. This was at odds with the announcement on the train that there were signal problems. And of course the behaviour of the train – the constant stopping – strongly suggests signals too. I saw (somewhere?) that the level crossing barrier arms had issues too.

My Tranz Metro Mayhem postings on my blog tell the story of the sad state of Wellington’s rail system, at least on the Paraparaumu line.

Now I read Rail a priority in $2b plan and I get my hopes up. But no. They want to concentrate on doubling the track north of Pukerua Bay. I’ve you have ever travelled that stretch you’ll know how much that is going to cost! This is to be partly funded by a fare rise of up to 15%!

Now they say this will improve reliability and capacity but I do wonder why, then, when my journeys are all within 10-15 minutes of the central Wellington hub, that I can suffer so many delays and so many days not get a seat due to crowded trains.

It doesn’t matter how much rail you lay. Unless you maintain that rail, the associated infrastructure and the rolling stock that plies it, you’re still not improving anything that matters!