Who's running the show?

I had an uneventful trip into town this morning. That is to say, everything ran smoothly. As our train circled around Vector Arena on its approach to Britomart, we were greeted with a blast of sunshine just cresting the horizon. It reminded me the days are starting to get longer and the darkness of my winter commute has passed for another year.

With nothing of note going on that I would be able to comment on, I got to thinking about one of the more frustrating things about Auckland's rail network... There does not seem to be any single group to take responsibilty for the service when it's not performing.

Who deals with complaints, or accepts blame when things go wrong? Who can give assurances that systems are being put in place to prevent issues reoccuring?

In previous posts I've been pointing the finger of blame at Veolia Transport when things go wrong... I have since discovered what is likely to be the most compelling reason why no-one accepts responsibility when the trains are late or breakdown...

So many different groups are involved in the process of running our rail network, all each has to do to avoid responsiblilty is point the finger at the next guy.

Lets take a look at who owns/operates what:

• The signals and tracks are owned by the Crown and operated by the Government agency Ontrack.
• All the diesel-units and carriages are owned by Auckland Regional Council but maintained by Toll.
• Locomotives owned and maintained by Toll.
• Train services contracted by Auckland Regional Transport Authority and run by Veolia Transport.
• Locomotive drivers employed by Toll, managed by Veolia.
• The diesel-unit drivers and all other train staff are employed by Veolia.

It's no wonder there is little or no accountability when things go wrong. The bureaucracy going on here can't be efficient. I doubt even they understand who is to blame when things go wrong. With no accountability the service will continue to suffer, not only do they need to complete the infrastrucure, they need to simplify the operation.

The administration costs of operating Auckland's rail network must be rediculous, and you can guarantee the money would be better spent contributing to the infrastructure upgrades.