Tranz Metro

Suburban passenger rail services in Auckland and Wellington were a part of the New Zealand Railways Department, while bus services were owned either by city corporations or Railways Road Services. With the restructuring of the department into the New Zealand Railways Corporation in 1982, the Auckland suburban rail operation was branded "Cityrail Auckland" from 1984 and later in the mid 1980s suburban bus and rail services were branded Cityline as part of the Corporation's Rail Passenger Group. Further restructuring of the rail network came in 1991, and the suburban rail operations were renamed "Cityrail" after they were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1991. That year the Auckland Regional Council bought the Auckland Cityrail fleet and contracted New Zealand Rail to run it, extending the contract until 1993 and again for 10 years until 2003.[4]

In 1993 New Zealand Rail Limited was privatised, renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, with Cityrail rebranded Tranz Metro. On 15 December 2000, as part of management changes at Tranz Rail, the company split Tranz Metro into wholly owned subsidiaries Tranz Metro Auckland Ltd[5] and Tranz Metro Wellington Ltd,[6] with the intention of selling them. Stagecoach New Zealand and Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) announced their intention to bid for the Wellington company, but both were barred by the Commerce Commission from doing so. Tranz Rail did not bid for the Auckland contract when it expired in 2003. Connex (later Veolia and now Transdev) won the contract, and took over from 23 August 2004.[7] Tranz Metro Wellington reverted to a business unit of Tranz Rail, with new contracts being signed with GWRC in 2006 for network access, rolling stock maintenance and service delivery. The contracts expired in 2016.[8]

In 2004 Toll Holdings bought a majority shareholding in Tranz Rail and renamed the company Toll NZ, and on 1 July 2008 it was bought (less the Tranz Link trucking and distribution arm) by the government and renamed KiwiRail. In October 2009 Cabinet agreed on a Metropolitan Rail Operating Model, which requires the operating contracts for metropolitan rail operations to be "contestable". This is in line with Auckland's rail contract.[9]

An agreement signed in July 2011 transferred ownership of KiwiRail's station buildings, excluding Wellington railway station, to the GWRC, along with the D/DM class and EM/ET units (the FP/FT units were already owned by GWRC). KiwiRail retained ownership of the tracks, platforms, electric traction and signalling systems.[10] The assets were valued at $107.5 million.[11] Ownership of the fleet transferred on 1 July 2011 to Greater Wellington Rail Ltd, formed by Greater Wellington Regional Council in 2006.[12]

In 2014, Transdev announced its intention to bid for the operations contract when it came up for renewal in 2016.[3] The contract was awarded to a partnership between Transdev and Hyundai Rotem effective from July 2016.[13]

Operations

Schematic map of the Metlink rail network, operated by Tranz Metro

Metlink trains are operated under contract from the GWRC, which subsidises the operation and owns station buildings and rolling stock. Typically, 60% of that subsidy comes from central government through the NZ Transport Agency (formerly Land Transport New Zealand), which approves such funding after analysis of the economics and net benefits, the remainder coming from the GWRC. Public consultation in 2005–2006 resulted in some changes of emphasis in the new contract, which runs for ten years from June 2006.[14] The September 2006 fare rises and section changes were stated to part-pay for a major upgrade of trains and facilities over the next few years in conjunction with regional bus service improvements.

Rolling stock

Rolling stock as at 2 July 2016:

Image	Class	Type	Number	Seats	Routes operated	Introduction
	FP class Matangi	electric multiple unit	83× 2-car sets	149	Kapiti Line Melling Line Hutt Valley Line Johnsonville Line	2011–16
	SW class	passenger carriage	12× SW 3× SWG 3× SWS	64 (SW) 37 (SWG/SWS)	Wairarapa Connection	2007
	SE class	passenger carriage	4× SE 1× SEG 1× SES	64 (SE) 37 (SEG/SES)	Wairarapa Line Kapiti Line (former) Hutt Valley Line (former)	2008 (HVL and KPL, withdrawn 2011) 2013 (WRL)
	AG class	luggage van	1	-	Wairarapa Connection	2007
	DFB class	diesel-electric locomotive	5	-	Wairarapa Connection	2015

Former rolling stock

Image	Class	Type	Number	Seats	Routes operated	Introduction	Withdrawal
	EM/ET class Ganz Mavag	electric multiple unit	44× 2-car sets	148	Kapiti Line Melling Line Hutt Valley Line Johnsonville Line	1981–82	2011–16
	DM/D class English Electric	electric multiple unit	49	132	Hutt Valley Line	1938–1954	1983–2012
	EO class	electric locomotive	3	-	Kapiti Line Hutt Valley Line	2008	2011[15]
	EW class	electric locomotive	7	-	Kapiti Line Melling Line Hutt Valley Line Johnsonville Line	1952	1988
	NZR 56-foot carriage	passenger carriage		up to 56	Kapiti Line Melling Line Hutt Valley Line Johnsonville Line Wairarapa Connection	1937–1945	1988 (except Wairarapa and Capital Connection) 1998 (Capital Connection) 2007 (Wairarapa Connection)
	DC class	diesel-electric locomotive	4	-	Wairarapa Connection	1978–80	2015

In 2011/2012, Tranz Metro had annual operational expenses of $80.437m, and revenues of $80.442m. Most revenue (47% or $37.8m) comes from fares, 22% or $17.69m comes from Wellington Regional Council rates, and 30% or $24.13m from NZ Transport Agency public transport funding.[18]

• Rail transport in New Zealand
• Public transport in the Wellington Region
• List of Wellington railway stations
• List of rapid transit systems