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 the Railways. With the restructuring of the department into the New Zealand Railways Corporation in the early 1980s, suburban bus and rail services came under the Cityline brand as part of the Corporation's Rail Passenger Group. Further restructuring of the rail network came in the 1990s, 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. 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 and Tranz Metro Wellington Ltd, with the intention of selling them. Stagecoach New Zealand and Greater Wellington Regional Council 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 won the contract, and took over from 23 August 2004. 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. 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 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. 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. KiwiRail retained ownership of the tracks, platforms, electric traction and signalling systems. The assets were valued at $107.5 million. Ownership of the fleet transferred on 1 July 2011 to Greater Wellington Rail Ltd, formed by Greater Wellington Regional Council in 2006. In 2014, Transdev announced its intention to bid for the operations contract when it came up for renewal in 2016. The contact was awarded to a partnership between Transdev and Hyundai Rotem effective from July 2016.
Operations
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, 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. 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:
Former rolling stock
Upgrades
In 2008-2011 KiwiRail and GWRC undertook a major upgrade of the Metlink network, dubbed the Wellington Regional Rail Programme. The $390 million program included:
Upgrading the electrification system, including refurbishing the overhead lines and masts and 12 new substations to increase electrical supply for the Matangi units.
Upgrading the signalling system, including replacing control systems and signal wiring and hardening the track circuits from interference with the electrification.
Upgrading platforms at several stations to accommodate Matangi units and longer train lengths.
Upgrading the Johnsonville Line to accommodate both Ganz Mavag and Matangi units, by improving the loading gauge in the tunnels and under some bridges.
Lengthening the three crossing loops on the Johnsonville Line to take longer trains.
Double-tracking the Kapiti Line from Mackays Crossing through Paraparaumu to just south of Waikanae, to increase capacity.
Electrifying the Kapiti Line from Paraparaumu to Waikanae.
Adding additional stabling storage at Paekakariki and Waikanae for the Matangi and Ganz Mavag units.
Installing a third, bi-directional, line into between Wellington Station and the Kapiti/Hutt Valley line junction to ease congestion at peak times.
Work started on the programme in 2008, and was largely completed in February 2011.
Funding
In 2011/2012, Tranz Metro had annual operational expenses of $80.437m, and revenues of $80.442m. Most revenue 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.
