Commuter train one possibility

A Labour Government would "be in the business" of subsidising a commuter train between Dunedin and Mosgiel if it had regional council backing, the party's deputy leader Michael Cullen said while in Dunedin yesterday.

Dr Cullen spent the day visiting sites in Dunedin, including Dunedin Hospital, Hillside Engineering Group workshop, Port Otago and Mosgiel businesses, with Dunedin South candidate Clare Curran.

He also had lunch with fellow MPs David Parker and Pete Hodgson in South Dunedin after visiting Pak n' Save supermarket and The Warehouse to speak with voters.

He was given a tour of Hillside Workshops and shown a newly refurbished KiwiRail locomotive and carriages from the United Kingdom being stripped down and refitted for the Auckland passenger network.

He spoke for about 30 minutes to staff in their cafeteria about the future of KiwiRail and of work at the workshop.

Ms Curran said staff had told her there were at least 10 workers needed to fill positions immediately at the workshop, however, staff were concerned work for KiwiRail would be shifted off shore.

Dr Cullen said the KiwiRail board would report back to the Government in February with a five year plan, and it was in the best interests of the country for some of the work to be completed at New Zealand workshops.

He expected "multi-hundreds of millions" of dollars of expenditure to be announced to be spent on KiwiRail at that time.

He said if the Hillside workshop could get a "good flow of work" then money would also be spent on upgrading equipment - some of which, he said, was likely to be older than him.

Labour believed rail had a strong future, and although there were priority projects such as in Paekakariki, on the Kapiti Coast, a rail line planned for Clandeboye, near Timaru, would have flow on effects for Dunedin and the south of the South Island.